The Aftermath
by AndreaAngel
Summary: Death affects people in many ways, some it hardens beyond caring, others it turns them crazy, but for Dallas' younger sister, it is destroying her, inside and out,
1. Intro

**Intro**

**Ponyboy's POV**

Life was perfectly normal, perfectly fine until that night. The night at the drive in. The night me and Johnny were jumped. Now they're dead, Dallas and Johnny, and my life will never be the same. I can still hear Johnny's voice, his last words, "Stay gold, Ponyboy, Stay gold,". But I guess some people were hit harder by not only Johnny's death, but Dally's suicide. Most people have forgotten about Dally Winston's little sister, but I surely never will. Danielle Winston had always reminded me of Dallas, she seemed real tough, and I'll admit it she was scary.

She looked a lot like Dallas, she had Platinum blonde hair and a toughened, scarred exterior, but her eyes were her own. Unlike Dally's eyes though, her's seemed softer, she didn't have hard balls of ice for eyes, she had eyes all her own. They were blue, blue like the sky, and there was another color there I have seen before, but I can't put a finger on what it is. She was around thirteen or fourteen years old, we didn't hear much about her. Dallas would mention her in a conversation than just trail off or change the subject. I don't understand why. I don't know very much about her parents, or at least her and Dally's father. I know their mother ran out on them but Dallas refuses to talk about their father. Lord only knows why.

A week after the court hearing, ( In which I was acquitted, ) I had seen Danielle around a lot more, she was staying at her and Dallas' old apartment at Bucks, even though no one was there but her. I found it strange, I had heard Soda and Darry talkin' about someone coming to stay with us, that we owed someone or somethin', but I never really paid attention, that is, until she showed up on our doorstep with Soda and Darry leading the way...


	2. Chapter 1

**(A.N. I really hope you guys like the updated rewritten version! I know I do! Please review to tell me what you think! I really did try to make their hate evident a little more!)**

**DISCLAMER: I do not own the Outsiders or any characters but Danielle!**

**Chapter 1 – The Start of Hell**

**Ponyboy's POV**

That day was a rather sunny day, which was unusual for a day in the middle of November, it should have been snowing buckets outside. It was a Saturday so I didn't have to go to school, Soda had gone off with Steve to go do something and Darry just left, so I assumed he just went to the store. After I finished doing the dishes after breakfast, I picked up a book I was being forced to read for school and decided to get cracking on it. ( It actually wasn't that bad of a book ) I had been slumped on the couch with my feet on the table for over 2 hours before I heard our old red Ford pickup pulling up in front of the house. I heard Darry stepping onto the porch with 2 sets of feet following behind him, and then the screen door snapped open, and to my surprise, Danielle Winston walked right into our house with Soda and Darry carrying a bunch of her stuff.

"Here, come on upstairs. We cleaned up the attic and put a bed up there so you could stay there," Darry said to Danielle. I then knew why they cleaned out the attic!

"Thanks Darry, it was really nice of you to let me stay here." Danielle responded. I quickly jumped off of the couch and watched Darry lead Danielle up the stairs while Soda hung behind, and Soda being Soda, he turned around to face me and mouthed, "She's hot!" while pointing in her direction. I'm going to admit, he wasn't necessarily lying.

" Awww, shut up Sodapop, you ain't helping anyone by pointing out the obvious." I said as I waved him away. Everyone knew that Dallas' sister was good looking, but Dallas threatened to belt anyone who commented on it.

Soda raised his eyebrow and he flashed a big toothy grin and said to me with a little chuckle, "Yeah well, you better keep yer eyes up blondie!" I frowned and stuck my tongue out at him, it wasn't my choice to be a blonde, we had to bleach my hair because of what happened with me and Johnny. He chuckled again and continued back upstairs and I followed him shortly behind.

"... and over here is the dresser and the bathroom is right downstairs next to Soda and Pony's room okay?" Darry was explaining as I stepped into the attic closing the door slowly behind me, Danielle looked pretty uncomfortable, and pretty upset too.

"Do you need any help with anything? If you do just ask me or Sodapop," Darry said to Danielle. He turned around and quickly realized I had entered the room, I guess since I was the same age as her Darry thought we would get along better or something.

"You can also ask Ponyboy, he'd be glad to help you," Darry said as he pushed me towards her,

"I think that I'll be fine for now, but thanks anyways," She looked over at me and I quickly got the message she didn't want to be bothered by any of us. I turned and stepped down each stair carefully, (I'm clumsy so I've fallen down those stairs several times!) When I sat back down on the couch I had expected to get an explanation from Darry on why they brought Danielle here but all I received was silence and the sound of Mickey mouse emanating from the Television.

They were simply oblivious so I had finally decided to pipe in and tear them all from their precious TV. Time.

"So?" I quickly said to just catch their attention,

"So what?" Sodapop questioned back to me,

"So why is she here? I thought that we were barley making it by as it is Darry, and now there is another person for you to worry bout' payin' for."

"We are just helping out a friend, Pony, it's no big deal," Darry retorted.

"She is not a friend, she is our friends sister. We don't even know anythin' about Danielle other than she is my age and female!" I wasn't in the best mood since I was still real upset about what happened to them...

"I promised Dallas if anything ever happened to him we would take care of her, and we all knew something like this was bound to happen someday. I'm just carrying out his wishes." Darry turned back to the TV, hinting to me that the conversation was over, so I simply flipped out my book and continued reading where I had left off.

**Danielle's POV**

I sat down on the creaky old bed in the attic, thinking about everything that had happened over the past 3 weeks. Two of Dally's old buddies (One of them was a real good friend of mine), Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny Cade, killed a Soc and went on the run with the help of my big brother. I hate them now! Well I can't really hate Johnny because he is already dead, but if Ponyboy and Johnny hadn't made Dally help them he would still be alive and I wouldn't be forced to live in the Curtis house WITH Ponyboy! I guess Sodapop and Darrel, Ponyboy's brothers are okay, but that doesn't' mean I'm happy to be here, and I never really have liked Pony to well.

I opened up one of my bags and then the other, making sure I didn't forget anything back at the old apartment, I wasn't really thrilled with the thought of seeing Buck Merril again

"Hairbrush, toothbrush, notebooks, teddy bear, hair bands, clothes, boots, helmet..." I said to myself as I slowly sifted through my bags of stuff. When I finished, I spent the next couple of hours arranging the old attic just the way I wanted it, even though no matter what I did to it it wasn't going to ever feel like home.

"I guess I mite as well make the best out of it," I thought to myself the whole time. It reminded me of something Dal used to say, what was it, Like it or Lump it. Yeah something like that. He learned it from another one of his buddies.

Once I was done, the creaking bed was placed up against the window (so that I would actually wake up when the sun came up), the small nightstand was placed next to it, the dresser was pushed up against the foot of the bed, and the old desk was placed against the only wall in the whole room. My faded blue plaid bedspread was carefully placed on top of the squeaky old bed along with my old fuzzy, brown teddy bear that Dal gave me when I was five. I had all of my clothes, (Not much since I usually wore Dally's old clothes) placed and folded neatly inside of the dresser. All of my books and notebooks were neatly organized on top of the desk so that they wouldn't fall or slide off considering how many I had, I guess I kinda am a book addict, but I am not the best reader when it comes to school or history class! The old army satchel Dally bought me from the thrift store hung over the chair with all of my school books in it, and all of the homework that I would never do. Lastly, on the nightstand I placed the picture of me and Dally riding an old Quarter horse together. He was only about ten then, my mother had taken the picture, it was my prized possession.

I sat down again on the old bed and listened intently to what was going on downstairs. All I heard was Ponyboy arguing with his brothers about me being here, I told you, we just don't dig each other. I prefer hanging with Curly and Angela Shepherd (Angela is actually my best friend) they actually got along real well with my brother! Ponyboy thinks that Dallas was just a tough guy who didn't care about anybody and anything, wrong. He cared about me and Johnny, and maybe that Quarter horse he bought off of Buck a few months back. He wouldn't have bought that horse if he didn't care about it.

Cracker Jack was a cherry bay stallion, Buck had been selling him to slaughter because he had never been a good rodeo horse but Dallas had a soft spot for animals (that must be where mine comes from) and he bought him! I went and rode him a lot, but I didn't really need too since I have a job at a barn. It always made Dallas happy when I went riding with him, nothing really ever made him happy so I decided that I really needed to cherish these moments. Ever since mom left he had turned hard, right after she left was the first time he got arrested. I quickly pulled off my mini skirt and heels and replaced them with a pair of old jeans and ankle high lace up boots. I made sure all of my stuff was put away where I wanted it and I had my, well Dal's old blade stuck in my back pocket before I went downstairs, as soon as I got down there all I could hear was Ponyboy whining. I ignored it and preceded to enter the kitchen and shove an apple in each of my pockets with full intentions of visiting Cracker Jack. All that was left to do was get a ride..

**Ponyboy's POV**

"This isn't right! Darry you have to understand we can't afford to keep her too! Me and Soda will definitely end up in a boy's home if you do!" I could tell I was really getting him mad, we had been getting along after I ran away, but it hadn't lasted forever. I heard the attic door slam shut and someone stepping carefully down the stairs and I regretted my last comment. Danielle slipped into the kitchen and quickly returned with her pockets filled up with something,

"Hey Darry, Would you mind givin' me a ride down to the stables?" She clearly wasn't as shy as she was when we were younger, when I first met her she didn't even utter a hello!

"How far away is it? I'm gonna be busy this afternoon and I can't come pick you up," She rolled her eyes,

"It's a good ten minute walk, look if you don't really feel like giving me a ride than I'll just call Angela and she'll wa..."

"I'll take ya, but I can't get you a ride back home," She rolled her eyes again, if that had been me Darry would have slapped me right then and there!

"Fine, I can just walk back," She also seemed to need a quick attitude adjustment, I guess living with Dallas all those years didn't really help anything.

"Alright, Soda, Pony, why don't you guys come too, It's better than staying inside all day watching TV and readin' books, you can do that later the boys are probably coming over." This time I let out a groan.

"What was that Pony?" I shut up real quick, "Thought so!" Soda beat Darry to the door and ended up in the driver's seat, Darry followed him shortly behind. Me and Danielle were still on the porch steps when she said to me,

"You should just stay here," and she looked at me with pure hatred on her face. Like I said, this broad needs an attitude adjustment, but you know me! Always keepin' my mouth shut! The trucks horn blared causing us both to look down the steps.

"Let's go or were leaving without you two," Soda yelled from the steering wheel. She uncrossed her arms and hopped into the back of the truck and I hesitantly followed. This was going to be a long ride...


	3. Chapter 2

**(A.N. I really hope you guys like the updated rewritten version! I know I do! Please review to tell me what you think!)**

**DISCLAMER: I do not own the Outsiders or any characters but Danielle!**

**Chapter 2 – Red Death**

**Danielle's POV**

As soon as I got in that truck I knew I had made a big mistake in asking for a ride! They were all probably going to want to stay and watch e ride and then praise me on hoe good I was like I was some little kid, that was Dal's job, nobody elses. Angela did it once in a while but when she did I told her to shut the hell up, I mean it too!

"Alright, let's go!" Sodapop yelled as he smacked the door of the car. He started the engine and began to drive with such a jolt that I fell onto Ponyboy! I looked up at him with my jaw dropped and my eyes wide since I fell into his lap, I knew that by the look on his face I was probably redder than a tomato!

"And I thought I was a blusher! You should see you red your cheeks are!" Ponyboy's comment made me want to smack him in the face.

"Oh shut up Pony, it's not even like I meant it!" He chuckled as I lifted myself off of him. God he was such a jerk! For the rest of the ride I just sat there with my arms crossed like a bump on a log and I kept on feeling this really weird uncomfortable feeling. You know, that feeling you get when someone is watching you. I also looked over and caught Pony looking over at me now and again, it was really strange. I was used to guys staring at me but I didn't even want him to spit in my direction!

As soon as the truck slowed to a stop at the stables I basicly leaped out of the truck, I needed to get as far away from that kid as possible. I walked slowly over to an old falling apart, brown sided barn, that Dallas had been keeping Cracker Jack in, it was cheap to board here cause' the place was coming off of it's hinges. If I use the money from my job I'd probably be able to keep him. When I reached the old creaking double doors at the barn entrance, I took a second to breath, I felt like I was going to cry. The last time I had been there was the day Dallas was killed.

I fought the tears the whole way to Cracker Jack's stall and actually managed to keep them back. When I peered into the dark, little stall that served as Jack's home, I heard a nicker in reply and felt a small bump on my shoulder,

"Hey boy, I've missed you, did you miss me to?" I took another breath before saying, "You probably miss Dallas, I'll take you for a nice long ride in the arena? How's that sound to you boy?" I hadn't really been expecting an answer so I just took the rope from the stall door and clipped it to the bottom of his halter. I unbolted the door and led Jack outside and tied him to the pasture fence to be groomed. I turned back to the barn to go and get my brushes. Soda, Ponyboy, and Darrel must have gathered near Jack while I was in the barn, I rolled my eyes because they were all keeping a safe distance, Jack would never hurt a fly!

"You can pet him ya know, he ain't gonna' bite your fingers off!" I sorta laughed for a moment at my comment. I pulled one of the apples out of my pocket and tossed it to Soda, he seemed to be the one who was the least scared, if he was even scared at all!

"Give him that and he'll be your best friend for life!" As soon as Soda smiled back at me trustingly I knew I had actually found, maybe, a friend, yeah a friend.

"So this was Dal's horse huh? He could do worse," Soda Chuckled and stroked Jack on the nose while he gingerly fed him the apple,

"What did I say? Now your friends for life!" Sodapop mostly laughed at my comment,

"I don't think I'd mind it that much if we were!" I finally cracked a smile and fed Jack the other apple and started to brush all of the dust off of him. Soon enough even Darry and Pony joined in and we were all working on Jack, for a moment I felt like I might actually have found family in these three boys, but I quickly washed that idea clean from my head. I wouldn't be family with anyone but my real family, and they don't care about me anymore, no one except Dallas did.

I set my brush back down in the small blue bucket I kept them all in,

"I'll be right back, I have to go get Jack's gear." They all just nodded while I disappeared into the

barn. In a small corner of the old barn was used as the tack and feed room, even though it wasn't a room, just a stall that was too far destroyed to be used by a horse. I grabbed all of Dallas' gear, the saddle and saddle pad I held with both of my hands and the bridle was draped over my shoulder. I sort of did struggle a little bit when I was walking over to the fence, but what can I say, the saddle was pretty heavy.

"Do ya need any help tacking him up?" Sodapop questioned,

"Nah, I just need someone to hold him to make sure he won't bolt or do anything stupid as soon as I take his halter off!"

Soda stepped over to the fence and untied Jack and held him steady while I placed the saddle on his back and tightened the girth. Soda put the bridle onto his head.

"Thanks," I said quietly so that no one but Soda could hear, I didn't want anyone to think I was soft. I led Jack slowly over to the arena fence and opened the creaky old gate. I handed Jack over to pony for a minute and lowered the rails on the jumps so that they were only about a foot tall. I slowly strided back to where Ponyboy was waiting with him,

"Need a leg up? I don't see a mounting block anywhere."

"Yeah sure Pony," I responded, "Just hurry up or else I won't get any riding time."

I put my left foot in the stirrup, grabbed onto the pommel of the saddle and felt Pony's hands on my thigh as he helped lift me into the saddle. I looked down at him and he was smiling, I guess I was blushing again.

"You know you might want to wipe that grin off of your face!" he seemed not to even notice that he was smiling. I turned Jack around kicked him into a walk. I sat up straight and relaxed, allowing my mind to wander. Did Ponyboy like me? Did I like him? No, no, it's impossible, you hate each other remember? But than why do you keep blushing? Why does he keep blushing? God I hate not having Dal around to help with this. Johnny too. Johnny was the only person in Dal's gang that I actually talked to and was friends with. Nobody seems to understand that I lost everyone that I cared about, first my mom, then Johnny, then Dal, I don't give a rat's ass about my father, that old drunk can rot in hell for all I care, for what he did to me.

I sped Jack up and finally started to go over jumps, well actually, it was more like I was trying to get Jack to jump and he kept refusing, he never did it to Dallas so I just gave up for the day and dismounted and started walking over to the barn. I tried my best to keep the tears out of my eyes...

**Ponyboy's POV**

Me and Soda quickly walked over to help Danielle with Jack, and to compliment her on her riding skills. Soda will never admit it, but she's a way better rider than him, even if her horse wouldn't go over a single jump. I was the first to reach her,

"Where did you learn to ride like that? There is no way Dallas taught you to ride!" I asked her, remembering how Dallas always rode, he was so heavy in the saddle and yanked at the horse's mouth too much, but I seemed to be the only one who would say something to him about it, that earned me a black eye. It finally dawned on me that it might depend on what horse he rides, that's how Soda is and I wished I could stuff that comment about Dallas back down my throat.

"For your information Dally did teach me to ride, he taught me everything he knew." She looked pretty angry and like I said before, sometimes she looks pretty scary, so I just backed off.

"Sorry, I didn't know" I did feel pretty bad, considering Dal just died and I was insulting him.

She quickly tied Jack to the fence and was clearly doing her best to ignore me and not to have eye contact. Soon enough she turned away from the horse and started talking to Darry,

"Hey Darry, I have to get Jack settled for the night, you guys can head back, I'll be back by eight okay?" Danielle said quickly trying to end any conversation as fast as she possibly could, if you asked me she looked to be on the brink of tears.

"Sure, just make sure your back by eight, no later." I watched her roll her eyes at Darry as she walked away. She sure loved to roll those little blue eyes.

"Hey, Pepsi-Cola, pass me the keys, I think we've had enough of your crazy driving for one day little buddy!" Soda looked defeated as he handed Darry the keys. As soon as Darry turned around I caught Soda sticking his tongue out and making funny faces at him. I just started cracking up and when Darry turned around and asked us what was so funny, me and Soda started cracking up even more! Darry was just so oblivious sometimes. I hopped into the back of the truck and felt the engine start, this time we began to back out of the stable parking lot smoothly.

I looked over to the entrance of the barn where Danielle was standing. She was looking back at me with tears in her eyes...

**Danielle's POV**

I had led Jack over to the entrance of the barn and looked over to the truck, I saw the Curtis brother's laughing and joking around with each other, having a great time. It made me think of me and Dally. I quickly felt the tears coming and I couldn't hold back anymore, I just let them come. I looked up for a moment and saw Ponyboy in the back of the truck looking back at me, a look of sympathy covered his face.

I rushed into the barn, pulling Jack behind me. I put him into the cross-ties and began untacking him. I simply threw his saddle and bridle on the dirt floor before I buried myself in his mane,

"Your all I have left of him now boy, your all I have left," I continued to cry into his mane until I couldn't cry anymore. I set his tack inside of the little tack box that was built into the front of the stall that would be his. I pulled out a few grooming brushes and cleaned him off. I finished picking out his hooves and I finally caught a glimpse of the clock, it was nine-thirty! I was screwed! I quickly put Jack into his stall, made sure he had plenty of water and hay, and ran started to run back to the house as fast as I could but stopped on the curb of the barn. I turned hysterical and I couldn't help myself, I was feeling too much pain on the inside, maybe pain on the outside would fill the void I was feeling, I pulled up my sleeve and flipped out my switchblade...

I knew I was going to get screamed at as soon as I stepped onto the porch steps. All three of them were in the living room waiting for me to get home, I don't even get why they bothered to. I simply opened the door and tried to walk upstairs to put away my blade since it was poking out of the pocket in my jeans. I quickly ran past Darry in his chair hoping I would go unnoticed, but I wasn't very smooth and I felt Darry's hand on my arm as soon as I reached the first step on the stairs. Man it sure hurt, but it didn't hurt enough. He pulled me over to the couch and sat me down in-between Soda and Pony.

"I gave you a time to be back here, I know Dally probably didn't care when you came home late Danielle, but I do and you either come home on time or don't come back at all" I felt all three sets of eyes burning into me, Darry's were the most menacing. I looked at Darry and noticed his eyes flash to my pocket.

"What's this?" Darry asked as pulled my switchblade from my pocket. I didn't want him to see it because I hadn't cleaned it off since the last time I used it, about five minutes ago. He looked at me and continued to flip it open. The blood still covered the sharp part of the blade, Pony looked like he was going to puke right then and there, he just wasn't one for blood I guess, Soda just looked shocked.

"Show me your wrists," Darry commanded,

"No" I said stubbornly, even though I knew I was turning as white as a ghost.

"You better do it or I will" Darry said, the anger in his voice rising.

"Have fun trying then," I said trying to use the fake toughness I have from Dal, it usually works.

"Ponyboy, Sodapop, hold her down." As soon as he said this my eyes went wide. I felt the blood dripping down my wrists, as Pony reached out to touch me, drops of blood fell onto his hand and arm. His green eyes stared at me with a pleading look in them, he wanted me to listen to Darry. Before Soda grabbed my left arm, I pulled the sleeve up, everyone went quiet. Pony ran to the bathroom and slammed the door shut. I heard him twist the deadbolt lock

"Why Danielle, just why?" Darry asked, his voice was shaking. I had over twenty cuts on each arm, starting by my wrists and going all the way to my elbows. I knew I had cut too deep, and I had tried to. I didn't want life anymore, not without him...

**Ponyboy's POV**

I got heaved my head into the toilet, expelling whatever was inside of my stomach, it was horrible. How could anyone mutilate themselves like that? How? After I was silently sick for a minute, I focused on scrubbing Danielle's blood off of my hand and arm. I noticed some on my shirt and I knew that all of my efforts would be futile.

I unlatched the door on the bathroom to find Danielle with only a bra and underwear on. At first I was confused until I saw her legs and her hips. And how thin she was. I felt like I was going to pass out. Small spots of blood had collected around where she rested her hands on the couch. She was losing too much blood. Darry was shaking like a leaf and I knew he couldn't think straight and Soda was just plain staring at the blood forming on the couch. I ran into the bathroom emerging with a first aid kit and a roll of paper towels.

"Soda, call an ambulance, NOW!" I saw Danielle staring at me, she looked whiter than snow and I knew she was going to pass out in a second, and if she did, she wouldn't wake up again. I padded both of her arms with large mats of paper towel before wrapping them with gauze to stop the bleeding, hopefully. Soda was at the phone dialing 911 in the kitchen. Darry had run into his room and locked himself in there, I knew he was breaking down.

I did my best to cover the cuts covering her hips and legs even though they weren't bleeding anymore. I looked at her face, her eyes were closed, I shook her until she opened them again. I heard Soda nervously talking on the phone, he started to cry and rushed back in.

"They can't get here for another two hours, it started to blizzard..." Soda gestured his arm toward the window and reminded me it was getting cold.

"Get some blankets, she'll freeze to death if you don't." As if on cue she started to shiver. I moved her body so that she was lying down and her head was in my lap. I stroked her face and looked at her, I started to sing a lullaby to her that our mother used to sing to us when we were too scared to fall asleep. Soda sat down on the floor next to us and began to sing it as well.

Hush-a-bye, don't you cry, Go to sleepy little baby. When you wake, you shall have, All the pretty little ponies. Blacks and bays, dapples and greys, Go to sleepy you little baby, Hush-a-bye, don't you cry, Go to sleepy little baby. Daddy's boy Mama's joy Go to Slumberland my baby When you wake, you shall have, All the pretty little ponies. Hush your cries Close your eyes Dream of pretty little ponies Hush a bye don't you cry Go to sleep my little baby Darkness falls and man calls Go to sleep my little baby When you wake, you shall have, All the pretty little ponies. Up and down round and round Dream of pretty little horses Hush a bye don't you cry Go to sleep my little baby Go to sleep my little baby.

The power went out, me and Soda were both aware of how cold it was going to get but tried our hardest to ignore it. We sang the lullaby until we went to sleep, only to be woken up by the sirens of an ambulance...


	4. Chapter 3

**(A.N. The rewrite is coming along rather nicley! And for all of you who really like this fanfic I am writing a sister fiction to it, it is going to be just a bunch of Danielle's memories about her and Dallas, her family, the night dallas was killed, yadayadayada. If you are wondering that is where Danielle's nightmare in the beginning of this chapter was taken from!)**

**DISCLAMER: I do not own the Outsiders or any characters but Danielle!**

**Chapter 3 – What is to Become of Me?**

**Danielle's POV**

"_You'll never get me alive!" My eyes went wide when he pulled out his gun,_

"_Dallas don't do it! No!" I had screamed at the top of my lungs before I started running over to him, he turned for a split second towards me before the shots rang out..._

I opened my eyes. I had no idea where I was. I shot up and felt the adrenaline coursing through me and I started to cry a little from the dream. Two hands on my shoulders kept me from moving, my vision began to sharpen and I saw who was standing over me.

"Ponyboy? Where am I what's going o..." He cut me off and pressed one finger to his lips.

"Your in the hospital sweetie, you, you cut your, you tried to kill yourself. I thought for sure you would never wake up," He gently swept the hair out of my face. I was so confused, the only thing that my mind was able to process at that moment was my dream. Then I looked down at my wrists and started to cry even more, I was not only hurting myself, but other people too.

"You went into a coma for four weeks, you had lost to much blood. They told us you would never wake up," I could see he was about to cry. He sat down next to me and pulled me into a hug and started sobbing a little to himself, he was probably afraid of someone else dying, even if he hated them he probable wouldn't have been able to take it.

"I came here everyday after school, but they kept telling me the same thing, that you probably wouldn't make it, I guess they were wrong!" He smiled and let the tears slide down his face when he let me go, but he quickly wiped them off his face.

"I donated blood for you, it kept you alive I guess," I sat up and hugged him close to me again. He held the back of my head and we both sat there crying for a minute, neither of us wanting to let go, I guess the hate between us was now gone,

"I'm going to call Sodapop and Darry, okay, I will be right back," He jumped up and practically ran out of the door. I laughed to myself and looked around me. I was border than a rock and if I didn't find something to do withing five minutes I was going to fall back asleep, and that wasn't very appealing to me. I found one of those stupid push for emergency buttons. Just to be a bitch, I hit it. Within three minutes the doctor was standing in the doorway. I looked at him, smiled and said,

"Hey, I'm awake, God do you guys have room service here? I'm starving!" The doctor seemed shocked that I was even awake and moving. He rushed around me checking my vital signs. I guess I was fine so he left. I looked down at my arms again, my happy mood quickly left my body.

I sat there for twenty minutes playing with my bandages until Sodapop came running through the doorway, he gave me a huge hug, I felt like I was going to suffocate. I saw that he had been crying, Ponyboy too.

"Whats wrong? Why are you guys crying?" I was confused, they shouldn't be upset, I was alive (even though I had full intentions of not being so), and where was Darry?

"You can't come home Danny, Darry says you can't" Soda looked up, his eyes were puffed up and red, Pony's were too, except tears were still falling out of his. I looked down and accepted this. I knew I had put them through hell. I deserved it, I didn't deserve people that actually cared about me. Plus I probably drained all of Darry's money with Ponyboy forcing them not to pull the plug. I scared them, they thought I was gone for good, that they lost another person in their lives. Darry was only trying to protect them.

Pony grabbed Soda by the arm, "Let's go see if we can calm Darry down, he might change his mind. Go start the car, I'll be right there."

"Alright Ponyboy." Soda slowly stalked out of the room, making sure all of the signs of his tears were gone. Ponyboy slowly walked over to me and sat at the edge of the bed. His face was only inches away from mine. He leaned in, closing his eyes, putting his hands on my face and planting his lips gently on mine. When he pulled away, I only wanted more, not to have him leave me, not to hate him anymore, maybe even to have him for myself. He stood up, tears still streaming down his face

"That was just in case I never see you again," And then he walked away, shutting the door silently behind him. He would see me again, I swear to it...

**Ponyboy's POV**

When I walked out of that room, I felt torn, between my brothers and and the girl I was falling in love with, I hated her, before everything, I hated her. God I felt like an idiot, I kissed her and Darry might never even let me see her again. I was such an idiot. I walked through the hospital halls avoiding the room where Johnny had been put after the fire.

Once I got outside I opened the passenger door and slammed it shut after I got in.

"Soda, do you think we could change Darry's mind?" I asked.

"Yeah if we work hard, it will be just about as hard as it is to dye your hair back brown, which ain't easy at all unless we spend a bunch of money." Soda responded.

"So you want us to spend money on him?" I tried to lighten the mood, but my dry humor wasn't fooling either of us.

"No, we just need to be persistent. We have a week until she gets out of the hospital so we have a week to convince him." Soda ended the conversation by simply starting the trucks engine and driving off towards home. I thought deeply while we were driving home, mostly about what happened over the past few months, but mostly about death. God had taken away someone who hadn't wanted to die, a sixteen year old boy whose life should have been spared. In replacement, he had left a broken down, depressed, suicidal fifteen year old girl who had no one left she cared about except for a horse, and she was desperate for an end, it sounds like a rather unfair trade if you were to ask me...

(Three days later at the cemetery, still Pony's POV)

I held the two flowers in my hand as I walked toward the graves. It was easy to spot them, compared to all of the other grave's Dally and Johnny's were relatively new, no grass was growing on them yet. Since the snow from the Blizzard had melted, I thought I mite as well visit before it started to snow again. I placed a flower on each of their headstones. Quickly sitting down against the side of Johnny's, facing Dally's.

I knew I was supposed to be somewhere else, but I just continued picking at the grass around the graves, I wasn't very comfortable being at the cemetery, I just don't dig the fact that people will bury someone's body to rot, but I guess that's just how it works. I took a deep breath and began talking quietly, acting like someone might hear me who wasn't supposed to,

"I don't exactly know how I'm supposed to do this Dal, so I'm just gonna' talk and hope your listening." I took another deep breath, "Danielle tried to kill herself because you died, she, she hasn't been eating and she cut herself so many times I almost couldn't stop the bleeding, the ambulance almost didn't come" I could feel sobs beginning to shake my body, "Darry says he ain't gonna' let her back in the house, he doesn't want to deal with her trying it again." I let the tears run freely down my face, they began landing in a puddle on the cold marble headstone. "She went into a coma, we thought she would never wake up, you never should have died, because now she wants to die too,"

I stood up off of the ground, brushing off my pant legs as I did so. I touched the cool marble of Dal's headstone and quietly said,

" If you can do it, you have to help us, I love her and I can't loose her too," and then slowly sliding my hand off the headstone, I walked away.

Tears were still flowing from my eyes while I walked back to the house, but I couldn't help it, me and soda can't get Darry to even budge, I think he won't ever change his mind about her coming back, I only wish that I knew what was going through his head. When I reached the gate to the house I opened it slowly and heard the screen door slam and felt Soda's arms wrapped around me.

"She can stay, Pony," I heard him whisper into my shoulder,

"What?" I questioned, I was shocked, genuinely shocked,

"Darry's gonna' let her stay, Pone" I only remember letting go of Soda for a brief moment before I felt Darry's arms around us both. "Thank you Dallas," I said as I looked to the sky, a large smile on my face, my wish had been granted...

**Danielle's POV**

I haven't seen them, not even Pony since I heard the news, and since he kissed me. I still don't understand why he did that, why he sat at my bedside for all that time, why he even cared about me, I thought we hated each other. The feelings clearly weren't mutual on that one. I still became upset whenever my eyes wandered over to the bandeges.

I had spent the past few days annoying the crap out of the nurses and the doctors, and I'll admit, it was pretty funny. But soon it got boring. I was longing for Ponyboy, whenever I think about him, I get this weird feeling in my stomach and I can't quite put a finger on what it is, well, at least not now anyways.

It was Thursday afternoon, I was supposed to be released into someone's custody on Sunday morning, but I'm just going to end up getting picked up by a foster home. I dreaded that day and each time I thought about it I remember Ponyboy's words,

"That was just in case I never see you again," What if I don't ever see him again? I will have to go my whole life wondering what could be and what might have been between us. Maybe there was already more between us than I realized. He had kept me alive. He could have been like Darry and ran to lock himself into his room, but he didn't. He stayed strong and did all he could to save my life.

When I have nightmares about these thoughts, I just think in my head about Ponyboy's voice, singing that lullaby until I fall asleep, but I can't fall asleep without him singing it to me. Then when I do fall asleep, the gunshots won't stop ringing through my head...


	5. Chapter 4

**(A.N. The rewrite is coming along rather nicley! The sister fanfic will be posted soon!)**

**DISCLAMER: I do not own the Outsiders or any characters but Danielle!**

**Chapter 4 – Facing The Music**

**Ponyboy's POV**

It was Sunday, five in the morning. I guess I was up pretty early, but I couldn't sleep. We would arrive at the hospital at nine-thirty to pick up Danny. I had spent a little bit of time up in the attic over the past four weeks making sure everything was perfect for her homecoming, even though almost everyone was convinced she wouldn't ever come back. Her bed was made, her books organized, I even read a few of them to her in the hospital if you want the truth,( The doctor said that she could hear me, even though she was in a coma, ) but the biggest gift I had I would give to her myself.

I quickly went into the bathroom and stripped down to take my shower, the water wasn't the warmest but I wasn't really focusing on that, would she be happy to see me, or would she still hate me? Anyways, I did my best to make breakfast just the way everyone likes it, but it's a miracle I did it without burning the house down considering the lack of attention I was paying to anything that morning! After a while everyone was up and moving around and about, Two-Bit and Steve even showed up, but I didn't pay attention at all to what they were saying, that was, until Soda shook me and began to say something,

"Hey Pony, Darry said we could head over to pick up Danielle early, he'll meet us at the hospital later." I was still spaced out, "Hello? Pony! I swear you've been a million miles away lately!" Soda said with a chuckle.

Two-Bit chimed in by saying, "Maybe he's got a pretty girl on his mind! You know the one in the hospital bed?" and then he continued to crack up at his own joke. I swear that guy could make a joke out of everything!

"Awww, shut up Two-Bit, let's go Soda." We went outside as quickly as possible and literally jumped into the truck. Or maybe it was just me that did it, I don't really know. I was still kinda scared to see what was going to happen between us but I was still excited.

Soda started driving with a jolt, as usual, and we sped off towards the hospital.

"Well someone sure is excited to see Danielle, man, you'd think you'd haven't seen her for over three years!" Soda let out a laugh as he watched the road, "I know that you like her Pony, Darry might be oblivious to these things, but I already know, and Two-Bit clearly caught on real fast." I felt my cheeks turning red. He was right.

For the rest of the car ride Soda just smiled to himself, his baby brother was finally interested in girls, wait no, scratch that. I was interested in a girl, no, not interested, in love with. Okay I admit it, I have fallen in love with Danielle Winston. I toyed with the small gold ring I kept on my finger and reminded myself who had given it to you and what you were supposed to do with it. I smiled at the thought, Danielle being my girl. It sounded amazing, I could just imagine it now...

"Hey Ponyboy, PONY! Get up" I slowly sat up, to my surprise I was still in the passenger's seat of the Ford. Soda was shaking me awake, I could barley even believe I fell asleep with everything that was on my mind,

" What, where am I?" I was a little bit confused, I did wake up pretty early that morning and I was dead tired. I barley even wanted to move my head.

" Come on Pone, we have to pick up Danny from the hospital, yer the one who woke us all up at six in the mornin', and you think your tired." I slowly sat up and walked out of the car. We entered the hospital and Soda walked up to the reception desk. I toyed with the ring again before whispering to Soda, "I'm gonna' head upstairs to see Danny, I need to talk to her alone." He gave me a quick nod and I rushed upstairs to her room. As soon as I entered the room, I felt my hands begin to shake.

Danielle was sleeping, she looked so happy and peaceful, I would too if I was her, these doctors and counselors never leave her alone. I walked in and sat down in the chair next to her bed, I slowly moved her blonde hair out of her eyes. She slowly woke up, it must have tickled when my finger touched her forehead. I smiled at her, I didn't know what she would do when she saw me.

She sat up like a rocket and yelled as if it was for the whole hospital to hear,

"PONYBOY!" She grabbed me into one of the biggest bear hugs I had ever had. That answered my question on if she would be happy to see me!

"Why are you here Pony? Do I get to go back home with you guys?" She looked at me, her eyes sparkling with happiness.

"Yeah, you do. Me and Soda, well, I honestly don't think it was me and Soda, but Darry changed his mind somehow." She smiled at me and laid back down on her pillow.

After a while Soda showed up, he talked to Danielle with me for about an hour, (It was still only seven so Danny couldn't go home yet), he ended up leaving hastily to go pick up Darry from the house, Darry had to sign for us to be able to take Danielle home, so we just kept talking. She had told me about what a great brother Dallas was and how her Mother ran out on her and Dal. She was finally opening up to someone other than Johnny, and Johnny had refused to tell us any of the stuff she told him.

"Well, what about your father? You've never even mentioned him and Dallas used to always get mad whenever we got into a conversation even about parents." She looked up and got a sad faraway look in her eyes.

"I don't really talk to just anyone about him, the only other person I ever talked about it with was Johnny because he understood what was going on," She lifted up her shirt revealing a scar, a very very large scar near her hips, but it was more towards her abdomen. I had seen it before that night of the blizzard, but I thought she had done it to herself.

"After our mother left, he went crazy. If anything ever hacked him off, he took it out on us. I got the worst half of it. He would hit me, beat me, refuse to feed me. Dallas tried to protect me, but he would just get hit if he tried anything. When I was 10 or 11, he was really drunk and took things too far. He had used an old broken bottle on me. That is when me and Dal left New York and came here, to Tulsa. He was only around 13 or 14 so we basicly hitchhiked our way here and he did anything for money." I felt sympathy for her, no 11 year old deserved to be beaten like that! I simply looked into her eyes and finally realized what that other color was, it was green...

**Danielle's POV**

I couldn't believe I just told him that, I am now officially crazy!

"It is nothing to be ashamed of Danny, there is nothing wrong with that. It is not like you belted yourself, I remember Dal telling us something about that story." He smiled, "Good old Dallas," He glanced back at me and smiled. I smiled back at him. I heard the bed creaking as he leaned in close to my face.

"I gotta' tell you somethin' Danielle,"

"What Pony?" I asked, it felt a little weird with him so close to me, I could feel his breath in my face. "That you don't hate me anymore?" I giggled as I ran my hand through his hair, getting the grease all over it, it only made me laugh even more!

"No not that!" He laughed, he pushed me back so that I was leaning back on the pillow. He was on top of me and it felt pretty weird, "You know your shaking right?" I blushed and looked back up at him, "I need to tell you that you are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in the whole world." I smiled up at him with tears in my eyes, "I can't take another day without knowing that you are really truly mine and that no other guy can even look at you the way I do." He slid Dallas' old ring on my finger, the ring he used to always give to his girlfriends, "Be my girl?" I could only nod and before I knew it we were laying there on the hospital bed making out. I promise you it didn't go ANY farther than that. I don't know how long we sat there kissing but we were both jolted back to reality when a sharp whistle rang throughout the room, I knew it was Two-Bit's

Pony quickly climbed off of me and I just laughed. His ears were redder than a cherry, his cheeks looked exactly the same way! He was standing at the edge of the bed, now that I could see, the whole gang was standing in the doorway, Soda, Darry, everyone. Now it was my turn to blush.

"So there was a girl! Wasn't I right Soda?" Two-Bit just laughed at his own joke and it was infectious. Soon enough, everyone in the whole entire room was laughing there heads off, but Pony's ears were still fire engine red, even though he did stifle a small laugh.

"So umm, how long have you guys been standing there?" Ponyboy asked. God he was so humiliated!

"Only for a second, thank god we didn't catch any of the mushy gushy crap you probably said to her!"

"Awww, shut up Steve, no one asked you anyway." He simply waved Steve away Darry slowly pushed his way through the boys,

"Danny," I didn't let him finish what he was even going to say. I just hopped off of the old hospital bed and ran into his arms. The only thing I said was, "I'm sorry," and I said that at least a million times. He placed the strap of my army satchel into my hand,

"We put some clothes for you in there, now hurry up if you ever want to leave!"

I ran into the bathroom and quickly sifted through the contents of the bag, there was a pair of my old jeans, ripped at the knees from how much I used them, a navy T-shirt, hairbrush, and one of Pony's old blue sweaters and his old worn out white converse. I dug to the bottom of the bag and found a tube of hair grease. Before I changed, I opened the door and threw the tube at Ponyboy,

"I think I messed up your hair a little bit too much, you might want to fix it!" I shut the door again and all I heard were the laughs of the guys and Pony groaning, "Cut it out," way too many times. I just laughed and beat my own record before I changed into the clothes and brushed my hair back into a ponytail. I was glad they remembered to bring me a sweater, I was not going to let my arms flop around in public, but it was winter so it was either bring me a sweater or let me freeze my ass off.

I emerged from the small bathroom to find Ponyboy with his hair fixed, everyone was still poking fun at him. I just giggled as he put his arm around me and said,

"Okay guys, happy now? Let's go or it will start snowing again!" We rushed out of the door and everyone was practically running out of the hospital. I could barely keep up so Ponyboy decided it would be easier if he just gave me a piggy-back ride, he was definitely right! I ended up making Pony stop so I could flip off one of the nurses, now that was definitely worth it! After we were near the entrance of the hospital we all slowed down. I hopped off of Pony's back and we all got into some nonsense conversation about only god knows what.

Me and Pony hopped into the back of the truck, Darry decided he would be the one to drive, I don't blame him considering what a bad driver Sodapop is! Two-Bit took the passenger's seat and Steve and Soda followed us into the back of the truck. It wasn't long before Soda started to ask us a bunch of questions.

"So she is definitely your girlfriend now?" Soda asked. As a response I raised my hand. On my index finger was Dal's old gold ring that he had given to Pony. Soda looked impressed and patted Pony on the back. "I couldn't do any better myself kid." He gave Pony a big smile. I felt as happy as I had been since, well, since, since what what happened to Dal. Suddenly a question popped into my mind.

"What happened with Cracker Jack? Is he okay, has someone been taking care of him, has he been ridde.." Ponyboy stopped my rambling by putting a finger to my lips.

"Calm down Danny, I have been taking care of him myself," Soda must have seen the shocked look on my face because he chimed in,

"Don't worry Dan, as soon as I started going to the barn when I was eleven he came too, he knows how to care for a horse and rides pretty well."

"Really Soda?" I was surprised while Pony just sat there accepting the compliments.

"Yeah, he started working Jack over jumps, said somethin' bout' you wanting to compete in Spring." A huge smile lit up my face. I jumped onto Pony's lap and just started hopping up and down kissing him while I said,

"Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!" He smiled back at me,

"Ugh, you two really need to get a room," Steve said,

"Yeah, I'd prefer if they didn't!" Soda responded to Steve's comment we all started laughing and ended up home before we knew it.

Pony had his arm over my shoulder and his hand was holding onto mine. Wow it felt great to be back, even though I couldn't stop worrying about Cracker Jack. I tugged Pony's sleeve,

"Do you think we could go to the barn now, it's going to be dark in a couple hours and I really want to try Jack out over some jumps." I stuck my bottom lip out and made a puppy dog face. He just laughed.

"Yeah well, before you go you might want to head upstairs, there is a surprise for you." I literally ran up the stair's to see what was awaiting me. Spread out on my bed was a pair of Jet black horseback riding Breeches and on the floor was a pair of tall English leather jumping boots. I covered my mouth, it must have cost a fortune!

"Hey, calm down Danny, it was my mom's old stuff, it's good to finally have someone who could use it!" He gave me a kiss on the forehead and headed downstairs, I guess that was my cue to put the stuff on.

It all fit like a glove, I was starting to think he really did buy it for me until I saw the wear on the boots, but I didn't care. I ran downstairs and waited for Pony to meet me outside. He emerged in a small pair of Paddock boots (Short heeled boots) that were probably Soda's old ones.

"Alright babe, let's go," He put his arm around my shoulder again and we set off back towards the stables...


	6. Chapter 5

**(A.N. The rewrite is coming along rather nicley! The sister fanfic will be posted today hopefully!)**

**DISCLAMER: I do not own the Outsiders or any characters but Danielle!**

**Chapter 5 – Life is a Highway**

**Ponyboy's POV**

I couldn't believe it, I just couldn't! Danielle Winston was mine and I was her's. I thought about this the whole time we were walking to the barn together.

"Ponyboy?" I heard her ask faintly, "I was wondering if you wanted to be my jumping coach, if I don't have one me and Jack won't win any competitions and we'll only knock down rails." I looked to my left and smiled at her,

"Sure, no problem," She then smiled back at me and went onto her tiptoes and kissed me on the lips, she had been doing a lot of that today! We had been walking for about five minutes, but I think we both noticed a black Mustang was tailing us for half of that time. Danielle felt really tense and for the first time ever I think she was actually scared, she always seemed rock solid and cool.

"Pony," She whispered as the car pulled up next to us,

"Just shut up and run," When she didn't respond I yelled at her, "GO!" She still didn't move, she was frozen in fear.

About five Socs emerged from the mustang, "Hey greasers," They all said that at least once while they circled us, one of them flicked out a knife and I had a flashback to the first time I was ever jumped, I heard the voice in my head,

"Need a haircut Greaser?" I quickly remembered that Danny was drinking a bottle of Pepsi. I took the bottle out of her hand and smashed it against the brick wall we had been backed against, I held the broken pop bottle out for everyone to see.

"Now the next person who touches me or my girl gets it alright, get outta' here cause' I mean it!" I gritted my teeth and knew I seemed tougher than I really was cause' they backed off and drove away. I was still clutching the pop bottle when Danielle came behind me and engrossed me in a hug,

"Thank-you Pony, I,I was so scared of what they might have done to us." I just dropped the bottle and we continued walking towards the stables...

**Danielle's POV**

I was still shaking and wished that Pony still had his arm around me. I know that Ponyboy had been jumped before, but I never have been, and I was scared stiff because of the stories Dallas had told me. I had also seen Johnny's scar and a small one Pony carried on his neck. I never had to worry about Socs when Dallas had been alive, he pound anyone's face in that hurt me, so people left me alone. I guess I just wasn't that lucky anymore.

I looked over to Pony, his greenish gray eyes were blazing,

"It's okay Ponyboy it's not like they hurt us..."

"They shouldn't be on our side of town, after the rumble they were supposed to leave us be! They aren't supposed to come over here, it's going to start all over again..." The fire left his eyes and was replaced with longing, I knew what he was longing for, something better than this. Somewhere where people don't hurt each other, where people don't die, and a world where people didn't kill each other. A place where you don't have to be poor or afraid to walk out your front door in fear of being hurt or killed, I want that too.

Pony exhaled a deep breath and looked back over at me, he put his arm back over my shoulder,

"Do you have to work today, I can help you if you need it," He smiled, I knew he just felt like going for a ride with me.

"Sure, I have a couple horses to look after probably, especially Snowstorm..." Snowstorm was a beautiful 15 year old Arabian mare, she was pure white with a set of beautiful chocolate brown eyes. She used to be a real good jumper, but her new owner abused her badly. Every now and again you'd see a new whip mark on her flank or chest.

"Alright, I guess I'll take out Pointer, he hasn't been ridden for a day or two." I knew the perfect place to take us,

"Sounds good, I want to pick the trail though!" I was so excited to get back on a horse! We slowly walked up the driveway to the barn. The smell of horses and the sight of the old ramshackle barn welcomed me back.

"Pointer should be in his stall next to Jack's, we'll work Jack when we come back from our ride." I slowly paced to the field farthest from the barn to find Snowstorm standing there, she was dirty and scruffy, no one had paid her any time in weeks, at least she was fed though.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed her lead rope from the fencepost.

"Snowy! Come on Snow!" She quickly trotted up to me, happy to have some human contact. I led her back to the barn and slowly tied her to the rail of one of the stalls. I collected her brushes and got to work. Pony was further up the aisle grooming Pointer, Pony told me he was his favorite horse out of all of them. He was sweet, but sometimes bursted out with anger. He was around 18 years old, he had a chocolate brown coat and a crooked white mark that ran down his face. I think that they are sort of alike sometimes.

It took us about a half an hour to finish up and be ready to ride. We led the horses out and Pony gave me a leg up onto Snowstorm, she actually looked white since I cleaned her! I adjusted my helmet and watched Ponyboy mount, he did it like a pro!

"Here, follow me Pony," I pressed my legs gently against Snowstorm's side and she bounded off into a walk, I felt so graceful sitting on her. She was my dream horse I only wish that I could have her for myself, but when your a Greaser, you know the score. I looked behind me at Pony, he wasn't having any trouble, had perfect position, and was extremely confident in the saddle. I guess Soda wasn't lying about how much experience he had.

"Quit looking back here and control your own horse!" Pony laughed at me. I heard him press pointer into a trot and he pulled up next to me, forcing me to speed up. We both rose and fell with the bounce of the horses beneath us.

"So you really can ride Pony, you never seemed the type to be into horses." I giggled, he just laughed back.

"Well, whenever Soda decided to try something new when we were younger, I always had to do it with him." He smiled at his fond memories. I stopped listening and recognized where we were.

"Hey Pony, slow down," He pulled Pointer to a halt and I did the same with Snowstorm,

"Up ahead there is a four foot fence, Pointer can jump it easy, but you need to guide him over, don't force him okay. I know you can ride and everything, Pointer just gets really picky about where he goes..."

"Don't worry Danny, while you were in the hospital I exercised the horses for you. I know all about Pointer's jumping issues, he's even dumped me a couple times."

"Well, then let's go!"

I slightly pushed back my leg and added pressure to Snowstorm's sides and she set off at a sloping canter. I wish I could ride her all the time, no scratch that, I wish she was mine. Her owner would sell her cheap. I stopped thinking and focused on the fence that would soon be coming up in front of my eyes. Soon enough the fence emerged and in five canter strides I rose out of my saddle and leaned forward. As I felt Snowstorm's front hooves hit the ground I leaned back into the saddle and slowed her to a halt to watch Ponyboy. He was a few strides from the fence and Pointer didn't even flinch, Pony rose and leaned forward. They cleared the fence without and issue.

"I think I finally found my match when it comes to riding!" We both laughed and continued to trot down the trail. I ended up turning off of the trail to go onto a smaller less traveled spot, we could only ride in single file and there were a lot of low hanging branches. The horses could fit fine but with riders on their backs, it doesn't work out so well,

"Are ya' sure you know where your goin'? This doesn't seem like a good idea to me." Pony didn't seem to happy about all of the branches whipping him in the face.

"Just trust me, I know where I'm going," I didn't even check to see if he was still behind me, I just listened quietly to the sound of the horse's hoof-beats.

Soon enough the small trail widened into a small apple grove. The meadow in the center was large enough for a quick gallop, there was even a stream to water the horses that ran through the center of the meadow.

"How did you find this place Dan? It's beautiful," Pony said as he dismounted. I dismounted too and showed him a small makeshift hitching post that had been fashioned out of 3 branches next to the stream. Dallas had made it for me,

"Me and Dal used to ride here all the time, it was our special place. It's ten times prettier when the leaves are actually on the trees! Ooh, and you should see it in apple season!" I walked over and sat down next to Snowstorm. I looked up at the sky, the clouds were blocking the sunset.

"It's a shame huh," I looked over to Pony who had sat down beside me,

"What's a shame?" I said as I leaned up against him.

"That life is the way it is... that Johnny and Dal died, were poor and have to worry bout' getting jumped every five seconds, that you can't have that damn horse cause' I know you want her, and, and, I just don't know anymore." I saw the tears in his eyes,

"Pony, listen, we both lost friends that night, you lost two friends. I lost my best friend, maybe he was more than my best friend and my brother too. He was the only person I had left Pony, that's why I did it, that's why I tried to die. I understand that you lost your parents and your friends Pony, but you still have Darry and Soda. I ain't got anyone left anymore, I mean, It's that I am the only Winston left. I wish I knew what happened to my mother, my father probably drank himself to death, but it doesn't matter..."

"Nothing matters as long as we have each other," He finished my sentence for me, like he always does before he kisses me, Pony but his hand across my forehead, pushing the hair out of my eyes, and he planted his lips on mine.

"You know Pony, my birthday's next week,"

"Isn't Christmas next week?" I giggled at him, he didn't know I was older than him, that was the only reason why I had any classes with him considering the fact that that he had gotten moved up a year in school!

"Yeah, my birthday's the day after Christmas, I'm turning fifteen you know." He just looked down at me and said,

"Yeah, I know, but who really cares if I'm fourteen and your almost fifteen, it doesn't matter." I looked away from him and started looking around us, it was snowing! I literally pulled him off of the ground.

"Pony, we have to get home!" He looked at me with a very confused look on his face,

"Why, what's wrong?"

"I,I, I, need to go to, I need to go to the cemetery before the snow covers everything, I haven't ever been there since their funerals, I was planning on bringing Jack, would you come with me?"

He looked at me and just wrapped me in a hug, I knew we were both crying, "Yeah I will,"

"Pony,"

"Yeah,"

"Do you think that they might get cold?"

"No, no, they'll be fine."

We both mounted and rode as fast as possible towards the barn to take Jack to the cemetery...

**Ponyboy's POV**

We were already back out on the trail with Jack instead of Snowstorm. I still rode Pointer, he was secretly my favorite horse, Danny was the only other person that knew. We were cantering pretty fast to reach the cemetery because the snow was already piling up and soon it would be unsafe to be out with the horses.

As we slowed to a trot and begun to approach the black iron cemetery fence. I dismounted Pointer and opened up the gate for Danny, she dismounted and led Jack through the gateway, I followed after her with Pointer. I leaned up against the tree that was a few feet away from the graves. I tied Pointer to the tree and allowed him to graze while Danny led Jack straight to Dally and Johnny's graves. I listened to every gentle, quiet word that Danielle uttered.

"Hey big brother," She began by saying, "I brought someone here to see you," We both stood silently watching as something remarkable happened, Cracker Jack lifted his head into the snow filled air and seemed to be inhaling someone's scent, we both knew whose scent it was. "I'm glad you like that I brought him. I just really miss you Dally... you too Johnny," I heard her choke up at the mention of Johnny's name, lord only knows why. "I just want you to know, The Curtis' are taking real good care of me, me and Ponyboy, we even started going out! I know that you'd be proud of him Johnny, and Dallas, I am going to use my money from my job at the stables and keep Jack for you, I might even compete on him, Pony is helping me train..." She started crying,

"I only wish I knew what could have happened between us Johnny, after we kissed... I guess I'll never know, but maybe that's because Pony is the one for me. I miss you guys, I will see you all again someday," She kissed the palm of her right hand and the palm of her left and pressed them against the headstones. I came up behind her and wrapped her in a hug.

"It's going to be okay Danielle, I'm here, it's all going to be okay..." I rocked her back and forth and felt her sobs rocking through our bodies.

The walk back home after we dropped off the horses was quiet. You could see the snow falling each time you passed under a streetlamp. I could tell Danielle was a wreck, but she had to feel at least a little better for letting her feelings out. I remembered when Johnny told me that he kissed her, he was the happiest guy in the whole wide world, I now know how he must have felt. I kind of feel like I'm betraying him, am I? It was around probably six so we'd be back in time for Danny's welcome home dinner, I'm a little scared of Soda's cooking, we'll probably end up eating blue mashed potatoes! I put my arm around her and pulled her close to me and kissed her on the cheek. We traveled the rest of the way home in silence...

"They're home!" I heard Soda yelling from inside, we both smiled at his enthusiasm. No matter what, Soda was always happy. We walked in and were welcomed by everyone, even Two-Bit's little sister, Jenna, had come to welcome Danny home. I was a little confused at first when I saw the extra two chairs at the table that we didn't need, but Danielle caught on real fast. I sat next to her and she whispered into my ear,

"Those two seats are for Dallas and Johnny, we can't just leave them without any seats..."

The rest of that night was simple, we had fun, Soda actually cooked a half decent dinner even if the mashed potatoes were blue! And that whole time, we all knew that Johnny and Dallas were there. I thought everything was finally back to normal. Everyone went home as soon as we found Soda passed out on the couch and Darry was sleeping in his chair, it had been a long day. I was just sitting in the dining room trying to read my book when I heard Danielle screaming, a high pitched scream that sounded like nails on a chalkboard. Soda woke up and Darry quickly emerged from his room. They both stood at the bottom of the stairs watching as I rushed upstairs, she was still screaming.

I sat down next to her and cradled her head in my lap. I started to sing the first verse of the lullaby,

"Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,

Go to sleepy little baby. When you wake, you shall have,

All the pretty little ponies..."

"Where did you learn that?" I heard Danielle ask faintly, almost so quiet that you couldn't hear, "It's really pretty," She didn't even make an effort to sit up.

"My mom used to sing it to us when we couldn't sleep, I thought I could do it for you too." I kissed her forehead and sat up to leave when she grabbed my arm,

"Please Pony, don't leave me," I laid back down on her bed and pulled myself under her covers. I wrapped my arms around her and I fell asleep in Danielle Winston's bed with her head resting on my chest...


	7. Chapter 6

**(A.N. Woohoo! Sorry it took me so long to update since last time, I had to get a new charger for my laptop, but now I'm back in buisness! Please reveiw!)**

**DISCLAMER: I do not own the Outsiders or any characters but Danielle!**

**Chapter 6 – It's my Buisness, No One Elses**

**Danielle's POV**

I awoke with a jolt to the sound of my little alarm clock ringing throughout the attic, I would have to get up and get ready for school. I rolled over and went to get up but as soon as I did I felt someone's arms pull me in closer, it was Ponyboy. I rolled over so that I was facing him and shook him,

"Hey Pony, get up, we have to go to school," His eyes quickly opened and he smiled at me, but the smile quickly faded into a look of concern,

"Hey, are you feeling okay Danny? You woke us all up in the middle of the night." I thought back and remembered the dream, I heard the gunshots ringing through my head and quickly tried to shake off the thought.

"Yeah I'm alright," and then I quickly remembered I wore only my underwear to bed!

"Hey get up, you have to take a shower before we leave," He was clad in only a pair of blue jeans, but I wasn't going to just go running around in my underwear in front of him!

"Yeah, I'll meet you downstairs," He just luaghed since he probably knew I sleeped like that, considering the fact he was just sleeping in the bed with me! I idn't even remember how he got there.

As soon as I heard the door click shut and Pony's feet hit the bottom of the stairs, I hopped out of bed and ran over to the dresser and pulled out a denim mini skirt, an old green t-shirt, Pony's old blue sweater, and his white converse. I covered myself in a towel and ran into the bathroom to take my shower. After about ten minutes Ponyboy poked his head into the bathroom.

"Are you gonna sit in here all day?"

I covered myself with the curtain and looked over at him, he was smiling like crazy, probably because I looked like I was about to kill him!. I threw a bar of soap at him to get him to leave and shut the door.

I quickly turned the squeeky shower knobs until the water stopped coming out of the shower head. I slipped on my clothes and went over and opened the bathroom door too let the steam air out. I poked my head out of the door,

"You can come in now!" I yelled at Pony, he just smiled,

"Well I suggest you leave cause' I really have to piss!" I rolled my eyes and ran back up to my room. I didn't bother to put on any makeup, I left my wavy hair down and didn't even bother with putting it into a ponytail like usual. I grabbed my bag and stuffed my sketchbook and all of my school stuff inside. This time when I walked downstairs everyone was awake, Soda was cooking breakfast, Darry was reading the paper and Ponyboy was busy greasing back his hair.

"You guys need a lift to school today?" Darry asked me as he looked up from his paper, I just simply shook my head,

"Nahh, were going to walk today, even if it's cold," I smiled as I snuck and apple passed Soda, I wasn't prepared to deal with his cooking!

"Pony! Hurry up or we'll never make it to school on time!" I shouted from the doorway,

"Im coming, I'm coming," He ran out the door and I followed him. The high school was a good half hour walk so we had plenty of time to talk to each other. As soon as we were out of earshot of the house, Pony asked me,

"What was that dream about? You had me pretty shaken up, I had to lull you back asleep, you woulden't let me leave," I looked into his eyes and then peered at the ground, trying to avoid stepping on the cracks in the concrete.

"If you left you would be just like her," He looked at me questioningly,

"Like who?" He asked

"My mother, she left us when we needed her most, but now I know you won't leave me like she did," I smiled up at him. "The dream was just a flashback to when my mom left, when my dad belted me with the bottle, I also saw the last time I saw Johnny, when we kissed. I also remember watching Dally being shot down over and over again, like a broken record, thats what woke me up. I have that dream every night, but it's gotten worse." I felt like I was about to break down but I wasn't going to let it happen in the middle of the street.

Pony stopped walking, forcing me to stop as well. I turned to face him, I was still looking at the ground. He lifted up my chin and I felt the tears forming in my eyes. I wiped them away with my sleeve.

"Don't cry now, there is nothing we can do but move on," He pulled me into a hug and kissed my forehead. He smiled at me and we continued to walk to school, I didn't even notice our hands were intertwined. It was an okay walk except for when the socs would slow down and scream "Greaser!" at us, but that is a regular thing for all of us. As soon as we were at the school Pony turned me around and gave me a kiss, I knew that every single greaser girl in the school loved him so I was now public enemy number one for them.

"Meet me out here at luch, Steve and Soda are picking us up to go to the diner," He kissed me again,

"Okay, I'll see you later Pone," and then we both went to our opposite ends of the school, I had math class first period so I put all of my other stuff other than my notebook and my math textbook in my locker. I had this weird feeling the whole time that someone was watching me, I am kinda' hypersensitive, so I can sense these things. As soon as I shut my locker I saw about three girls in a group talking and pointing at me.

I started walking away when one of them piped up, She was a redhead, a really popular chearleader, and a Soc. Her name was Sherri Valance, and she was stuck up and mean to all greaser girls , we all try to keep our distance from her.

"Hey, why don't you go cut yourself somewhere else, we don't want to see your blood on the floor!" She giggled and all of her friends followed along. I was all for belting her right then and there, but instead I just decided that telling her off would be enough, I turned to her, stepped up close enough so that I was only inches away from her face,

"You better shut that little mouth of yours!" A small crowd of greasers and socs gathered around us and Sherri's friends left her side,

"Who's gonna make me?" I laughed and looked back at her,

"My fist! That's who!" I pulled back my arm and was ready to swing when I felt someone grab my hand, I shook them off and turned over to see who it was, it was just some random greaser who wasn't in the mood to have to defend a stupid girl from a crowd of socs. I pushed him away and ran down the hallway in an attempt to make it to my algebra class before the bell rang.

As soon as I ran through the door of the classroom the bell rang, all of the socs in the class looked at me as if I had killed someone right in front of them. I rushed to the back corner and sat down at my desk and took out my notebook to begin working on the problems on the board. The whole class I did my best to focus on my work but it constantly felt like people were staring at me, but I refused to look up to see who it was.

As soon as the lunch bell rang I rushed out the door and back to my locker, I dialed my combanation and quickly shoved the books away and shut the door. When I turned around I saw the greaser that kept me from punching Sherri in the face,

"Okay, what do you want from me?" I asked him, I had seen him around before, he was actually real good looking. The boy had black, curly, slicked back hair and bright blue eyes,

"You were really looking to get your self killed when you tried to tangle with little redheaded Sherri Valance!" I rolled my eyes,

"She deserved everything that I was gonna give to her, and you are?" He smiled and reached out his hand,

"Patrick, Patrick Mannor." I pushed his hand away, I finally had found out where I knew him from, he was another greaser all of the girls were hot for, except for me...

"I don't shake hands," I walked away from him but he just followed and turned me around,

"No thank you for saving your ass ?" I shook off again,

"How do you know who I am?"

"Everyone knows who you are! Your brother used to be a real badass!"

"I don't thank someone who stops me from doing something I wanted to do, and DON'T EVER talk about Dallas!" I just turned around and walked away from Patrick, hoping he wouldn't follow me again to where I was meeting up with Ponyboy.

I slowly snaked through the hallway to the front of the school building where I found Pony waiting for me,

"So how was your little fight with Cherry Valance Danny?" He asked me,

"How did you know about that?" I looked at him with confusion on my face,

"Two-bit saw ya, said you were about to pound her face in but some kid stopped you." I made a sound in disgust,

"Ugh, don't even mention that creep!" He laughed,

"Well you must not like him much!" I nodded my head in agreement,

"Are Steve and Soda gonna pick us up? If they are then they must be a little late!" Pony laughed again, he always laughs at everything I say, it is really cute when he laughs though so I don't really care.

"Nah, I guess they ditched us, let's just walk over there." I shook my head no,

"No! Let's walk to the DX to yell at them for ditching us!"

We were at the corner of the DX when I noticed something was wrong, Pony did too because he said before I got the chance to,

"Why is the truck here? There must be something wrong! Darry would never leaves work unless he has too!" We both took off running to the gas station. As soon as wqe got there we saw Darry getting into his truck, ready to drive off until he looked over and saw us. He leapt out of the truck and ran over to us.

"Danielle, I was just about to come to the school to get you!" I had a puzzled look on my face,

"Why Darry? Whats's going on? Why did you leave work early?" He looked at me with a look of sympathy before saying his next words.

"Your horse, Cracker Jack, the farm called me at work. He slipped in the feild this morning and hasn't been able to get up since," I started nodding my head no, This couldnt be happening! If I lost Jack I wouldn't have anything left of him!


	8. Chapter 7

**(A.N. Woohoo! I added a lot more detail to this chapter! Hope you like it better!)**

**DISCLAMER: I do not own the Outsiders or any characters but Danielle!**

**Chapter 7 – If you Love him, Let him go**

**Ponyboy's POV**

I looked over at Danielle, she had turned white as a ghost and she was incapable of talking, she kept trying to mumble words and just started shaking her head and saying "No," She started saying it calmy, but then she started screaming it,

"No! No!" I tried to hug her but she pushed me away,

"I want to see him," She said between her shouts and cries, I just gripped her hand and clutched it tightly, I will admit, I felt my stomach turning, I didn't like the thought of anything dying, it hurts just for me to think about it. We ran over and hopped into the back of the truck, Soda was sitting in the passenger's seat already. I simply acknowledged him and turned my attention back to Danielle, she was turning hysterical. She leaned onto me and gripped my shirt, soaking it with her tears,

"I can't, I can't lose him, Ponyboy, I can't!" I held her and let her cry until the tires stopped in the parking lot of the stables, we all saw the veterinarian's van and the large group of people leaning on the fence of the front pasture. We heard all of the sympethetic talk coming from the riders, and then all at once I saw Jack, he was throwing his head up, struggling to reach his feet, the vet couldn't get near him, he was thrashing too much.

Then all at once I saw it, his leg, it was flopping around at an unatural angle, it was broken, there was no doubt about it. The poor animal was letting out sounds that nothing should make, even if it's in extreme pain. He continued trying to get up for a few more seconeds before finally resting himself back down on the ground.

"Jack!" I heard Danielle scream. She hopped out of the truck and slammed the door shut. She sprinted to the fence, climbing it like it was nothing. The horse looked over at her with defeat, he was giving up. I followed behind her, scaling the fence as well. Darry and Soda forced everyone, even the vet, to let me and Danny say bye to him, but I don't think that was what she planned on doing, she wanted to save him.

She placed her hand on his sweat soaked hide, the tears that were coming out of her eyes freely splashed upon his body. It was cold, too cold outside, he wouldn't be able to last much longer in this weather, she was prolonging his pain.

"Jack, Cracker Jack?" He lifted his head and sighed at the sound of his name. I felt the tears coming from my eyes now, remembering how much this horse had been helping her recover, "Jack, you can't give up, you can't leave now, I need you boy, please, don't leave me too!" She leaned up against his neck and cried, I kept my hand on her back, feeling her sobs rack my own body. She sat back up and continued speaking, "It's gonna be okay boy, I promise, I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you," I heard the footsteps trudging over to us.

"Danielle," It was the vet, "He's in pain sweetie," She looked at the vet wide eyed and in horror, she knew what was being implied, she then looked at me and I just nodded my head,

"Danny, if you love him, you have to let him go," There was no way that horse would live if he couldn't even stand himself back up. She nodded to the vet,

"Will it hurt him?" She asked, the tears were falling onto my shirt as she leaned away from the horse, she was relying on me to keep her strong,her hand was wrapped tightly around my arm.

"No, just tell me when your ready." She turned back to the horse and began talking to him again,

"Okay boy, were gonna fix you up, make you better. Just make sure you say hi to Dally up there okay, and don't forget Johnny, Pony's parents too," The horse sighed in recognition of his fate. Danielle gave the vet a nod, letting her know it was okay to do it, to put him to sleep to never wake up again, to leave earth, to be like her brother, her best friend, my parents, everyone.

Soda and Darry had joined us, Darry, gave Danielle a quick hug and then backed away. The vet pulled two viles and a syringe from her black bag. At the sight of the viles of poison Danny gulped loudly, she was probably already regretting her decision, I whisperd, "Be strong, for him," I smiled at her through the tears. She smiled back, it was sincear. She stroked Jack's neck gently, singing a lullaby to him, her voice was sweet, quiet, but clearly calmed the animal,

**Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,**

**Go to sleepy little baby.**

**When you wake, you shall have,**

**All the pretty little ponies.**

The first needle pierced his skin, I flinched,

**Blacks and bays, dapples and grays,**

**Go to sleepy you little baby,**

**Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,**

**Go to sleepy little baby.**

He began to get a little droopy, the anesthetic was beginning to work,

**Daddy's boy Mama's joy**

**Go to Slumberland my baby**

**When you wake, you shall have,**

**All the pretty little ponies.**

The Final needle was ready, the poison drop that rested on the tip of the syringe glimmered in the sunlight,

**Hush your cries Close your eyes**

**Dream of pretty little ponies**

**Hush a bye don't you cry**

**Go to sleep my little baby**

I felt her nails digging into my arm,

**Darkness falls and man calls**

**Go to sleep my little baby**

**When you wake, you shall have,**

**All the pretty little ponies.**

I held her hand as the final needle went into his skin, his breathing slowed and his sides ceased to move, he was gone, but she choked out the last lines in between sobs, her voice remained soft and sweet, but the emotion that was once in her singing voice quickly dissipated...

**Up and down round and round**

**Dream of pretty little horses**

**Hush a bye don't you cry**

**Go to sleep my little baby**

**Go to sleep my little baby.**

She put her hand on his neck and utterd loud enough that only I could hear, "I love you," If only letting go had been that easy...


	9. Chapter 8

**(A.N. Woohoo! I added a little more detail to this chapter, still pretty short though, Hope you like it better!)**

**DISCLAMER: I do not own the Outsiders or any characters but Danielle!**

**Chapter 8 – Denial and Betrayl**

**Danielle's POV**

I stared at him, he was gone, gone, an empty shell. He wasn't breathing, moving, nothing. His once emotion filled brown eyes were now closed, empty of all emotion. I felt Pony's hand on my shoulder,

"It's going to be okay Danielle," With tears in my eyes I looked over at him,

"No, no it's not," He hugged me,

"Okay, we'll wait for you in the truck." I couldn't say a word, I couldn't choke out the right words.

I hopped over the fence slowly trudged over to the barn, the converse on my feet kicking up dust the whole time. My friend, Jani, that I ride with sometimes ran up to me and gave me a big hug, she was Pointer's owner. Her light brown hair was making my wet face itch.

"Are you going to be alright? Are you going to come back?" I looked at her in her chocolate brown eyes and answerd her question as honestly as I could.

"I, I don't know." She let go of me and said,

"I'll come see you if you don't," She was always a good friend. I continued walking into the barn, savoring every small step I took. Jack's old stall was wide open. I walked over to it slowly.

I pulled out the smalle nameplate in the slot on the door and reached over to the inside of the stall. I pulled the door closed and locked it closed, the sound of the latch closing echoed in the barn. I collected Jack's tack and brushes, there was no point in leaving them there. When I walked outside I avoided looking at the pasture completley and ran to the back of the truck, I never wanted to go back. I simply threw all of the gear into the back of the truck and hopped in. Ponyboy tried to comfort me but I pushed him away,

"You can't help me now, no one can," He stared at me in disbelif, I was never mean to him, except for before, let alone did I ever snap at him, I just ignored the stunned look on his face though.

When I felt the truck stop I simply ran into the house, Steve and Two-Bit were waiting for us but I just pushed them out of the way and ran to the attic. I took the old brass key and locked the door. I slipped the ring Ponyboy had given me off of my finger and pushed it underneath the door for him to find. He won't understand, I can't risk losing him too now...

**Ponyboy's POV**

"Hey Pony, is the horse okay?" Two-Bit was actually not trying to crack a joke for once.

"We put him down, he broke his leg and couldn't even get up," I cringed at the memory of the poor animal, even Steve had a look of sympathy,

"How is she?" Steve asked me, Soda walked in shortly after carrying the old tack and equipment,

"She ain't doin' so good," I answerd. Soda passed me the tack,

"Don't give this to her, just, put it somewhere where she can't find it." I just nodded and listened, I wasn't planning on bothering her, she had a lot on her mind and needed to be alone. After I stashed the tack under my bed I pulled out my scetchbook and pencils from my bag. I might not be able to explain how I feel to people, but I can express it through my artwork, it's easier that way.

I started to work vigorisly, sometimes I would lose my complete thought process and just be totally consumed by my artwork. I had tried drawing it several times, but I couldn't get the picture I wanted down, a simple picture of Cracker Jack, it only turned out right when I drew Danielle riding him. I heard the door slowly creak open and Sodapop's face peeked through the opening,

"Hey Pony, can you get Danielle down for dinner, she won't even open the door," Soda asked me, he was pretty upset looking too. He probably felt like we failed Dallas, we were supposed to keep his little sister happy and healthy, man, did we fail!

"I'll try, but she just needs time alone for a little while, we shouldn't bother her too much." I still left my half finished drawing on my bed and ran up the stairs to the attic door. When I reached the door I saw the glint of something gold on the floor. I bent over and picked it up, it was the ring. I felt hurt and betrayed, like someone pulled my heart out of my chest. After all I had done for her she had to twist me around her finger and then break my heart! I threw the ring back at the door and walked down the stairs doing my best to hide my emotions as I sat down at the table.

"She doesn't want to come down," I can't believe this is happening, she betrayed me.

After dinner, I ran into my room, took the drawing I was working on, crumpled it up and threw it in the watebasket in the corner of the room. No one has ever done this to me before, and she'll never do it again...


	10. Chapter 9

**(A.N. Sorry for the EXTREMLEY long update delay, as i said before, my parents are getting divorced and im going to be moving on the 4****th****, but you guys will be glad to know this story is finally finished and I'm working on the sequal!Please review if you want the sequal! )**

**DISCLAMER: I do not own the Outsiders or any characters but Danielle, Switch, Patrick, Drew, and Robyn!**

**Chapter 9 – Underlying Truth**

**Danielle's POV**

I was sitting on the cold floor of the attic leaning against the wall next to the door. I heard the footsteps quickly acending the stairs, I assumed it was Soda trying to get me to come downstairs for the umpteenth time but the pair of converse I saw through the crack in the door told me otherwise. I watched Poyboy's figure moving around in front of the door, then his hand moved and grasped something off of the ground. I held my breath as his feet sat there planted for a moment, not moving. Then I heard a bang on the door that made me jump and I started to tear up. Just like I thought, he didn't understand.

I heard him stomp down the stairs and I tried to collect myself, but I couldn't. My mind was pulling me in, I couldn't take it. I had been sitting there for over half an hour and had already bit my nails down to the stub, I even ripped one off, the pain didn't affect me. I shakily lifted myself off the floor, "I'm going crazy," I tried to look at myself in the mirror, I didn't look like myself. Before Dallas died I was healthy, I never looked tired and I was even pretty muscular for a girl, (I am a greaser girl at heart!) but that girl in the mirror, the only similarity we had were our hair and eyes. The girl in the mirror was skinny, at least ten pounds underwieght. Her eyes had blue and purple bags underneith and she seemed hollow. And then there were those scars, they covered her body, and the scabs that ran along her arms.

I luaghed at the mirror, I was such a joke. I took the picture of me and Dallas and threw it at the mirror listening to the smashing glass.

"I hate you! You ruined my life! I can't even live without wanting to die now!" I crumpled into a heap next to my bed. The last two things I cared about are gone now, one died, and the other I gave up...

I woke up several hours later in a daze, I was still on the floor, next to me were pieces of broken glass and mirror, and the picture. I kicked it underneath the dresser, I couldn't look at it. I slowly sat up and looked over at my little alarm clock, it was eleven pm. I could leave and no one would even know. I shoved a bunch of clothes into my satchel, put on gloves and my old pair of boots and opened the window. The icy air chilled me to the bone. I crawled out onto the roof and shimmied over to the large oak tree right next to the house. I looked down to the ground and gulped. If I didn't grab onto the tree's branch just right it was a pretty long fall. I held my breath, crawled over grabbing onto the branch and I then pulled myself onto the tree. I quickly scuffled down and landed on my feet, thank God!

I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard a window opening and a light shining on my face,

"Danielle?" I recognized that voice, it was Ponyboy's, "What the hell do you think your doing?" The flashlight was blinding me. I didn't even say a word, "Did you hear me? Are you a mute or something, speak!" He was clearly pissed at me. "Get inside!" I thought for a second before I finally found words to say, I gulped and I was sure he heard the unsteadiness in my voice.

"No!" He just stared at me, his greenish gray eyes were fuming, he never got this angry. He simply jumped out of the window, he was wearing only a pair of blue jeans and socks running through the snow but he didn't even seem to care. He simply grabbed my arm roughly and started to try to drag me back to the window, I simply refused and pulled him around to face me.

He got even madder and tried to pick me up to bring me back inside. As he reached out to grab me I pushed him away,

"Don't touch me!" I yelled loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear. He simply didn't pay attention and continued to try picking me up and I ended up biting him. He was fuming...

**Ponyboy's POV**

I was pissed, I was helping her! Before I even knew what I was doing I had pushed her to the ground and spat in her general direction,

"Fine, if your leaving, go right ahead, don't say I didn't try to help you." Even the sound of her muffled sniffles didn't stop me from returning to the house. I pulled on an old white t-shirt and fumbled through one of the drawers in me and Soda's dresser to find my lighter and cigarettes, I had tried to quit when Dallas and Johnny died but I guess that's not going to happen. But then the thought crossed my mind, I just hurt an innocent person, not just emotionally, but physically...

**Danielle's POV**

I sat there, dumfounded. The window was shut, and I'm pretty sure that it wasn't going to open again. I tried picking myself up off of the ground with my arms but pain shot through my wrist as soon as I tried to use it to bear weight. I stayed on the ground to examine it, it wasn't broken, just sprained. It was turning black and blue in one spot where Pony grabbed it and hurt like hell. So many thoughts were going through my head at that moment. Ponyboy Curtis, little Ponyboy who could never hurt a fly almost broke my wrist. I knew that I wasn't going back into that house. There was nothing for me there, I had a faint idea of where I was heading and I just followed what my mind was telling me to do, clutching my arm the whole time...

**Ponyboy's POV**

I had already smoked two cigarettes when Sodapop finally noticed I wasn't in bed, I rushed to put out the cigarette I was currently smoking, if Soda caught me smoking there would be a whole bunch of questions. There wouldn't be any point in telling him about anything that just happened. She probably ran back inside and upstairs, she wasn't just going to take off.

"What are you doing awake Pone? It's the middle of the night, get back to bed." I climbed back in next to Soda and snuggled under the blankets and up against him for warmth, we usually couldn't afford heat, we were lucky enough to be able to take warm showers without our asses freezing off.

"Sorry Soda, I just couldn't sleep, that's all," If I played it cool, nobody will know what happened. What happened out there isn't going to matter to anyone in the morning anyways. Good thing Christmas break finally started, less time dealing with socs.

"You okay Pony?" I just shook my head no, oh if only he knew!

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just go to sleep." He threw his arm tiredly over me and soon began to snore lightly and I quickly joined him, allowing my dreams to take me to a worry free place, just for a little while...

**Danielle's POV**

I had been walking around, following my hunch for about ten minutes. I was freezing cold, tired as hell, and in pain. When I started to ascend the hill to the park I quickly looked around to see if there was anybody there. Sure enough, there was a figure in a black leather jacket smoking a cigarette against the fountain. It didn't take me two seconds to realize it was who I was looking for. I let out, almost so quiet that you couldn't hear, a little sound that was just recognizable as a name,

"Patrick?" The figure turned, I knew that I would find him here. Patrick was just another local street tough, he and his gang found their place at the old park. I knew about him and his gang from Dallas, Dal said they were okay guys, they were good help in a rumble.

"Danielle? Winston? Is that you?" He started to walk towards me,

"Yes it's me moron! I need your help," I heard a muffled laugh escape his lips, he actually reminded me a lot of somebody, but I won't ever tell anyone who it is, they can just guess on their own.

"Twice in one day? I'm all helped out..."

"C'mon Patrick! I'm being serious!" I looked at him with pleading eyes, I didn't know why I wanted this idiot to help me, but he was really the only person I had left that could.

"Okay, okay, what's the problem?" I showed him my black and blue wrist and it had gotten to the point where no one could touch it without the pain shooting through my arm from the bruises.

"Did you do this yourself?" He looked over at me, his bright blue eyes pierced through me, just like Dal's used to.

I started fabricating a crappy story about falling off of a horse and landing on the arm and twisting my wrist, even though there was no longer a horse for me to ride. I wouldn't let anybody check it out and I got into a fight back home (that much was true) so I ran off. I knew that as soon as I looked up at him he knew I was lying. Patrick may have been just another street tough, but he wasn't a stupid one, in fact, he was pretty smart. He could probably tell the bruises were from somebody grabbing my wrist to tightly.

"Alright, let's get a few things straight. For one thing, I know that whole story was a lie but I'm not gonna even ask what really happened, two, I am taking you to have this wrist checked out, and three, if you need anywhere to stay, me and my gang welcome you with open arms. We aren't the bunch of hard asses you hear about every day, were nicer I promise!" I smiled at his remark. Patrick's gang was just him and three other greasers, kinda like the gang back home, they were just buddies who stuck together. They were pretty tough though, they've won their fair share of fights and rumbles.

"Well, can we take me to check my wrist in the morning? I really need some sleep, I feel kind of sick,"

"Yeah, sure, just come with me," Patrick carefully took my good arm and led me out of the park and over to a little beat up house that looked nowhere near as happy as the Curtis house. It was a stormy gray color with the paint chipping off to reveal the much lighter layer of white below. "The guy's might still be awake but I'll get them to turn the music off and head off so that you can sleep on the couch." He opened up the door and we were greeted by laughter, shouts, and the thick fog of cigarette smoke...

**(A.N. Sooooo? What do you guys think? Reiview PLEASE!)**

Paste your document here...


	11. Chapter 10

**(A.N. Sorry for the EXTREMLEY long update delay, as i said before, my parents are getting divorced and im going to be moving on the 4****th****, but you guys will be glad to know this story is finally finished and I'm working on the sequal!Please review if you want the sequal! )**

**DISCLAMER: I do not own the Outsiders or any characters but Danielle, Switch, Patrick, Drew, and Robyn!**

**Chapter 10 – A bird's name**

**Danielle's POV**

Once the smoke had cleared enough from the doorway for me to see I saw a rather familiar sight. There were three boys ranging from fifteen to nineteen roughhousing around the living room. Even though it seemed so much like the Curtis house here, little warning lights started to go off in my head,

_Danielle, what are you doing? You just went home with a boy you have only heard about and just talked to and met today! And now there is three other boys... ALL OLDER THAN YOU! That can either,_

_A. Rape you_

_B. Jump you_

_C. Kill you!_

"You know, you can go inside," I shook off my thoughts and looked over to Patrick who was trying to hold back a smile, he probably thought I was being another stupid scaredy cat of a greaser girl. I put on my tough act and turned back to him,

"Oh yeah, right," I hesitated for a moment before stepping into the smoke filled living room. The first boy that caught my eye was about six feet tall. He had reddish, brown, curly, heavily greased back hair. His muscles bulged out from underneath his t-shirt and leather jacket, he was leaning against the wall with one foot up and a cigarette dangling out of his mouth. The greaser looked to be the eldest and wasn't paying any mind to the younger two greasers playing poker on the other side of the room. He looked over at me and Patrick and began to approach us.

_Danielle, Rape! Jump! Kill! Run while you can! Leave like Dallas always told you you should!_

I made another attempt to shake the negative thoughts from my mind as the greaser stopped a few feet from Patrick's face, he was close enough to us that I could taste his nicotine flavored breath. I held in a cough, I had never once in my life opted for cancer sticks.

"You brought another girlfriend home Rick? I'm gettin' a little tired of this crap." The tall greaser scowled at me and I stepped back. I quickly scowled back to try to show I wasn't a force to be reckoned with, his facial expression didn't even change

_RUN DANIELLE!_

"You don't get it, Switch! This is Dallas Winston's sister!" Patrick put plenty of emphasis on my brother's name in attempt to get his point across a bit clearer. Everyone knew who Dallas was, according to most he went out with a "Bang" literally, he did. The tall greaser who was hopefully nicknamed Switch and not actually named that softened his face at the mention of Dallas. He started to circle around me, looking over every inch of me, it quickly made me feel uncomfortable, I was tempted to spit on his show as he circled me.

_RUN!_

"So your Dally's little sister?" I shook my thoughts about running out of my head and replaced them with my fake tough act again.

"What did your buddy just say? If you didn't hear him say that I was then you must be deaf!" I said to him with a scowl,

"Tough like your old brother, I like that," He started getting closer to me and Patrick stepped in between,

"C'mon buddy, leave her alone. She just needs a place to stay for a little while, that's all." Switch stepped away and put his hands in the air acting like he was innocent,

"Who says I was buggin' her? I'm headin' over to buck's, I'll be back by morning." He walked passed us out the doorway, rubbing his shoulder against mine as he walked out,

"Watch where your walking!" He just laughed and kept on walking,

_He's gonna be the one to rape you..._

The door shut behind him and I let out a sigh that was loud enough to get Patrick's attention.

"Sorry about Switch, he's just a little..." I interrupted him,

"Pushy?" He laughed,

"I was leaning more towards stubborn but pushy works too!" I let myself relax a little and let a small giggle escape my lips. The other two greasers quickly noticed my presence, one of them was around five feet tall with an average build and blonde hair with green eyes. He wasn't smoking but his blade was sticking out of his pocket a little too much for my comfort,

_He's gonna kill you..._

The blonde greaser stood up and held his hand out for me to shake, I hesitantly took it,

"Hey, the name's Andrew, but you can just call me Drew," When "Drew" talked, I could easily smell the alcohol on his breath.

_Now you know why he opted out of cigarettes..._

"My names Danielle, but you can just call me Danny," He let go of my hand and pointed to the much shorter and smaller built greaser he was playing poker with. As soon as I saw him the first person I thought about was Johnny. This boy had just plain brown hair but his green eyes seemed to be full of fear, just like Johnny's big, black eyes used to be,

"That's Robyn," Drew leaned closer to my ear, "He doesn't really talk much," Robyn merely looked up at me from his cards and cigarette long enough to wave. I waved back to be polite, but he had already looked away and back at his cards.

Patrick led me over to the couch and sat me down before disappearing into what I'm guessing was the bathroom. I observed Drew and Robyn's game of poker with interest, Dallas had taught me how to play so I understood everything that was going on. Robyn clearly knew how to play a lot better than Drew did, either that or Drew was drunk out of his mind because Robyn won twenty dollars in the quick five minutes Patrick was in the bathroom. I smirked at the kids antics, even though he wouldn't speak to anyone.

Patrick stepped out of the bathroom and tossed me a bandage that I almost didn't catch,

"Put that on, I'm takin' you to get that thing checked out in the mornin'," Robyn turned from his cards and uttered the first words that I heard coming from his mouth.

"What happened to you?" He walked over and sat next to me on the couch and I quickly uttered out my story, the fake one, while wrapping the ace bandage around my arm.

"That's not true, I can tell by the way you were blinking, you were blinking a lot more than when you first walked in here, that's a definite sign of you lying," I was blown away, this kid was smarter than he looked,

"Your pretty smart, how come I haven't seen you around school?" He shuddered at the mention of the word school.

"The socs, I was in a smart math class with them and some other greaser and they never left us alone, I stuck up for myself one day and they jumped me for it, I was the one who got expelled for it, the socs got let off..."

I spent the rest of the night talking to Robyn, he told me about when he lived back in Massachusetts and how he used to have really great parents until they abandoned him. He went through foster homes until he was adopted by his now family in Tulsa. They took okay care of him and never payed him any mind really, except for their older son. He told me their son used him as a human punching back, I flinched when he told me one of his stories about being beaten by that boy. He showed me a few of his bruises and I couldn't help feeling sorry for him. He was too afraid to tell his adoptive parents because he though that the boy would hurt him more. Soon enough, I fell asleep on the couch with the beaten boy beside me on the floor.

**(A.N. Sooooo? What do you guys think? Reiview PLEASE!)**


	12. Chapter 11

**(A.N. Sorry for the EXTREMLEY long update delay, as i said before, my parents are getting divorced and im going to be moving on the 4****th****, but you guys will be glad to know this story is finally finished and I'm working on the sequal!Please review if you want the sequal! )**

**DISCLAMER: I do not own the Outsiders or any characters but Danielle, Switch, Patrick, Drew, and Robyn!**

**Chapter 11 – Missing**

**Ponyboy's POV**

I had been sleeping in the bed peacefully until I felt someone roughly shaking me awake, I didn't at first understand why I needed to be shaken awake, it wasn't like I had school or anything,

"Pony! Pony, get up!" I opened my eyes and saw a wide eyed, worried faced Soda leaning over me on the bed. I was still confused, what was up with him, he should be at work, not at home waking me up, I caught a quick glance at the clock, he was clearly late.

"Wait... what?" Soda was starting to sweat and looked really nervous,

"Danielle's gone! I went to go get her this morning and she was gone! There was broken glass everywhere..." I just stared at him, dumfounded. "Did you hear me Pony? She's gone!" I still sat there in silence, she knows that we keep the door unlocked, I drove her away. I knew she wanted to leave already, I just gave her the little push she needed to leave. She's turning out like Dally, hardened and beyond caring, and it's all my fault, if only I had said something last night instead of playing it off like nothing had happened.

"Did you guys look for her yet?" I was starting to grow worried,

"Me and Darry took the truck into town and asked around, but it's really hard to do anything in this weather," I looked at soda with a confused look on my face,

"What do you mean weather?" Other than a light dusting of snow last night, the weather was fine and it was okay to walk around outside. I should know, I went out there in just a pair of jeans and socks and I didn't freeze my ass off!

"A blizzard hit around four this morning, work was shut down for both me and Darry today," I nodded my head okay and quickly got up, got dressed and set out to find Danielle, hopefully before the weather did...

**Danielle's POV**

I woke up slowly the next morning with a start, the first thing I noticed was the fact I was in a room asleep with an unnamed boy at my feet.

I resisted my urge to scream and allowed my memory to began to flooding back to me. I quickly remembered the name of the fragile, brown haired, green eyed boy sleeping on the floor. I quickly reached down to shake him up with my good arm,

"Robyn, hey, Robyn, wake up would ya?" As soon as Robyn's eyes opened he jumped five feet in the air.

"Goddammit, you scared me," He said as he touched himself to make sure I didn't hurt him. I quickly felt remorse for startling the poor boy awake,

"Oops, sorry, where's Patrick?" Robyn simply pointed to one of the doors. I guessed that was where he was since Robyn never actually told me. I pushed the blanket off of me and back onto the couch. I quickly tried to move my wrist and was amazed at how much better it felt, it didn't even feel like it needed to be checked out, the bruises were still there though. I walked over to the door and banged it open, putting on my tough act so that Patrick knew he wasn't going to be pushing me around.

The only thing in the house that you could hear was Patrick roll off of his bed and slump down onto the ground, I did my best to keep my giggles to myself,

"Well that was one wake up call," I rolled my eyes when he looked at me flirtatiously with his bright blue eyes,

"Yeah, well, I don't think my wrist needs to be checked out so I'm just gonna' borrow your couch for a bit," Patrick was looking me up and down like a freak and the thoughts started filling my head again, then I remembered what all of the girls said about Patrick other than the fact that he was cute. He tended to try to get every girl in bed with him, no matter who it was and he usually succeeded.

"Are you sure, babe, you aren't looking too good?" My face quickly filled with a look of disgust. Nobody but Ponyboy and the gang ever called me babe,

"Who do you think your calling babe?" He laughed right in my face, he started to seem worse than the Switch guy from the night before,

"Your tough, I like that in a girl," I was disgusted, what all of those girls had said seemed to be true!

"You only helped me cause' you wanted to get in my pants! You do that to every girl you ever meet!"

"Why does it make you jealous?" He laughed at me again and I stormed out of the bedroom slamming the door behind me. Robyn looked up and me, his pale skin turned even whiter when he saw how angry I was,

"Robyn, have you seen my jacket?" The boy didn't even answer me, "Robyn!" I turned to see him on the couch, he was shaking a little but still accomplished giving me and attitude.

"Why would you need it? It's snowing bucket loads outside, were all snowed in,"

I started going into a mild panic attack, I felt like a caged bird with a cat inside the cage with me, the cat being Patrick. I ran over to the end table and looked underneath, quickly finding where I tossed my jean jacket the night before along with my gloves. Robyn watched me open up the door and just start running out. I didn't know where I was running to, I just didn't belong anywhere. As I ran down the snow filled street the ice was biting at my lungs and my hair was whipping me in the face with little icicles at the ends, threatening me to stop, but I kept running. The whole time I felt like someone was following me but I didn't care, I needed to get out, get out of life for a little while and let my thoughts melt away into the cold of the snow.

I slowed to a walk when I found myself in a place that was all too familiar. I wrapped my arms around myself and pushed my head forward to avoid the biting snow. I walked up the gravel drive, hoping to hear the comforting sights and sounds of the barn, even with Jack gone there was still a reason to come back here. I threw the falling apart barn door open and closed it behind me as fast as I could. It took me a minute to adjust my eyes to the lighting in the barn but as soon as I did I ran to Snowstorm's stall. The poor mare stood there shivering, she didn't have a blanket on and snow was blowing through the cracks in the walls. I quickly ran to the tack room and looked around seeing all of the other horses with at least two blankets on top of them.

_Why couldn't they help her? That poor horse would've been dead if I wasn't here,_

I unbolted the stall door and entered inside, holding a heavy cotton blanket with a waterproof sheeting on top. Snowstorm tossed her head causing her long mane to fall all over her face. I buckled the blankets onto her and sat in the corner of her stall,

"Oh Snowy, what am I gonna' do?" I tapped her ankle and she quickly lied down beside me, I had taught her to all by myself. I leaned over her neck burying my fingers in her thick mane.

"I know what we can do girl," She took a deep breath and let out a long sigh, placing her heavy head on my lap and I smiled. No matter what that horse was there to listen to me, she never back talked or disagreed, just listened.

"We can run away girl, nobody will hurt you anymore and I won't have to ever talk to anybody but you again," I stood up and brushed the straw from my pants, contemplating the decision. Snowstorm's owner hadn't been to the barn in a month, her board was already up and Snowstorm would be confiscated soon, nobody ever said there was a problem with speeding up the process. I cared more about her than anybody else anyways.

Snowstorm quickly stood up, seeing as I had left her there on the floor. She nibbled at my hair as I reached over the door and grabbed her faded, worn out old halter and lead rope, quickly strapping it onto her face. I turned to her and stroked her in the middle of her forehead while she blew soft warm breaths at me. She nipped at my hair impatiently.

"C'mon babe, were gonna go," I led her slowly out of the stall, all the while making sure her blanket was secure on her back so she would stay warm.

"I'm gonna grab you another blanket girl." As I walked into the tack room one thought kept on reentering my mind,

_This is wrong,_

_This is wrong,_

_THIS IS WRONG!_

I did my best to shove it to the back of my mind, I was helping somebody, after all. I grabbed one of the older blankets at the bottom of the pile that was never used and strapped it onto Snowstorm. I then pulled open the barn doors and vaulted onto snowstorm's saddle-less back, riding out into the blizzard without a single thought in my mind but the one that kept on telling me the truth about what I was doing...

**(A.N. Sooooo? What do you guys think? Reiview PLEASE!)**


	13. Chapter 12

**(A.N. Sorry for the EXTREMLEY long update delay, as i said before, my parents are getting divorced and im going to be moving on the 4****th****, but you guys will be glad to know this story is finally finished and I'm working on the sequal!Please review if you want the sequal! )**

**DISCLAMER: I do not own the Outsiders or any characters but Danielle, Switch, Patrick, Drew, and Robyn!**

**Chapter 12 – Dallas**

**Ponyboy's POV**

"Okay, we checked everywhere in town and can't find her anywhere!" Soda contemplated my words for a minute, it looked like he was about to agree with me. We had checked if she was at the diner, hiding next to the fence around the dingo, at bucks, and even hiding out in the back of the school we hadn't found her in any of those places.

"We never checked the barn, Pone," I shook my head, there was no reason for her to go back there, her horse had just died the day before and the blizzard out there was brutal so I piped up,

"It isn't possible, Do you see the blizzard outside Soda! She wouldn't have been able to walk or run that far! Right Darry?" As soon as I looked over to Darry for support you could easily tell he was leaning more towards Soda's idea. I knew I was outnumbered so I guessed it would just be easier to agree with them.

"Pony, it's better to at least try checking at the barn if she was nowhere else," I nodded my head in agreement, it was better than nothing.

"Maybe it is, lets go," We all bundled up again in our jackets and gloves before walking out into the biting wind. Darry sat down up front and started the truck, soon enough it began moving at a slow crawl through the snow covered street towards the stables...

**Danielle's POV**

The white horse shivered below me as her hooves slowly fell through the deep snow. Each of her feet slowly lifted out of the snow and back in, it formed a pattern in my head, up and down, up and down, up and down. The poor thing was still shivering as we moved along at the gruesomely slow pace.

"I know baby, I know it's cold, I'm cold too." I shivered but we continued plodding on through the snow. The icy melted snow on my soaked jacket was chilling me to the bone and more and more continued to follow, soaking me even more.

Snowstorm stumbled below me once, and then again, soon enough a fear grew inside of me that she would slip and fall or get hurt. The ground was pretty wet and cold, which definitely meant we were walking along on ice, she could easily break a leg if I kept riding her.

"Whoa, stop girl, stop." Snowstorm halted. I quickly slid off her back landing in the snow up to my knees, it was still falling pretty heavily so it was going to get even deeper soon. She was breathing heavy and soaked with sweat and snow, she would easily get sick in this weather, even with two blankets on her. I was shivering as well, the snow had soaked me down to the bone. I grabbed Snowstorm's lead and tried to lead her to safety. I was shivering all the way, the snow seemed to fall even slower and my vision began to blur. I was barley even aware of where I was, the only thing that seemed familiar were the icicles growing on my hair.

Each step turned to agonizing pain from the cold, I felt as though my whole body was freezing over. Snowstorm was at least warmer because of her blankets, even though they would soon be soaked through. When we reached the river running through the meadow, the last thing that I remembered was a red haze, the sensation of falling, and then nothing, just the sweet silence and the color black filling my eyes...

**Ponyboy's POV**

"I think were here Darry, you can barley tell though because of all of the snow." I told him from the back seat of the truck. I could just make out the barn's driveway thanks to the little building tucked in the corner and the pasture fences that were barley poking out of the top of the snow.

"Alright, I'm just gonna pull over here, nobody plowed the driveway so we'd probably just get stuck." Darry quickly parked the truck and we all exited. It wasn't much colder outside than it was in the truck so I really didn't have to adjust to the temperature. Soda started walking over to the barn but stopped when he noticed something with the snow,

"Hey guys, there's indents in the snow, it's probably footprints that got snowed over!" I shook my head, sometimes I do understand why Soda dropped out of school, this is one of those times.

"There are other people that own horses here Soda, it could have been anybody." Soda just wrapped his old leather jacket closer to him and continued walking to the old barn, acting as stubborn as a mule. I just rolled my eyes and started to follow him.

"Well, we could ask anyone who might be here if they saw her or somethin'" We just simply followed him in. Soda heaved open the big barn door and we closed it as fast as we could to keep the snow from getting in so that the horses wouldn't get too cold.

I looked around and quickly noticed that there were only the familiar heads of all the horses in the barn, no people. I allowed my eyes to adjust to the light before something quickly caught my eye. Snowstorm's stall was wide open and the back barn door had been left slightly ajar. Snowstorm's halter and blanket were gone as well. My first thought was that her owner probably took her finally but I knew what the truth was. My thoughts quickly escaped from my mouth,

"Either Snowstorm's owner finally got the message that she wasn't welcome here or Danielle was here, and took the horse." Darry looked puzzled, he was probably thinking that she had a little bit more of a thought process than that.

"She should know better than to go out in this weather, let alone steal a damn horse in the middle of a blizzard!" He was shaking his head now,

"We gotta' call the cops, it's to dangerous for us to go out on our own to find her, lord only knows if she's even alive." Soda said with a solemn look on his face. I walked over to Soda and hugged him, everyone knew that Soda's words were probably tearing me apart on the inside and they were, she was going to jail, either that or, or, something even worse was going to happen to her.

While Darry went to call the cops I sat there leaning against Snowstorm's stall playing over every single possible scenario in my head and most of them weren't turning out very well.

"It's gonna' be alright Ponyboy," Sodapop piped up and I cut him off,

"No it aint' even if she is alive she's gonna' get arrested for horse theft! Nothing is gonna work unless we buy the horse now and we don't have enough money for her," Then I got an idea, Danielle had kept money in a small old coffee under the bed. She had at least 800 dollars stashed in there, she had been saving for her own horse, Dally had given her most of the money anyways. I knew it wasn't my money to spend, but this was an exception, it was keeping her out of jail, after all.

"Soda, do you think you could take me back to the house for a bit? I need to do something,"

"Sure, Pone. What do ya' need to do?" I smiled to myself,

"Just need to make a few phone calls is all," We walked out of the barn quickly warning Darry that I was heading home for a bit with Soda. I was still sad, but I knew what I was doing was right, even if she wasn't going to come back...

**Danielle's POV**

I heard a muffled voice trying to wake me up, the voice was there, but it seemed to be a million miles away at the same time. I strained my ears even more and began to make out the muffled and faint words.

"Danny, c'mon baby, get up," I opened my eyes to a small squint and I could barley make out the person standing in front of me, but I immediately knew it was him,

"Dally?" I still didn't move and I could only see a blurred figure in front of me and an even more blurred figure behind the first. My head hurt and I was still soaking wet and cold, thoughts were swimming in my head and I suddenly felt like I was going to pass out again.

"Yeah, it's me baby, shhhhhh. Don't talk Danny." He moved so that my head was in his lap and he was stroking my hair. "You have to stay strong, it's not your time yet, it was mine, and it was Johnny's too," He pointed over to the faded figure with his hands in his pockets, "and it was Jack's too, but it's not yours," The other figure which I assumed was Johnny came over and sat next to us in the snow, the cold didn't seem to affect them.

"Why," Each word was agonizing for me to utter, "Why didn't you help me, when, when I hurt the most? When I was in the hospital, when I was all alone?"

"You didn't need us, you needed to heal on your own or you never would, were here now because you can't give up, it isn't your time to die now." Dallas' fingers were still combing through my hair, removing the built up icicles. Johnny moved over and grabbed my hand,

"Stay strong Danielle, and no matter what you do and who you end up with, I will always, always, love you." He leaned down and kissed me, but the weird thing was I didn't feel a single thing. Everything began to blur again and before I went out, I faintly uttered the words to Johnny that I had regretted not telling him before he died,

"I love you, Johnny," He smiled his rare smile and reached down, putting his hand on my cheek. Dallas' face was the last thing I saw before the black took over once again...

"Get her on the stretcher and get and IV in her!"

"Yes sir!" I struggled to open my eyes and when I did I saw paramedics milling around me and stabbing something into my arm, and cop cars. Dallas and Johnny were gone and I couldn't see Snowstorm anywhere. I looked next to me on the bench and saw Ponyboy sitting there, tightly clutching my hand and saying my name the whole time, it sounded like he was asking me if I was okay, but I couldn't make out anything before the red haze filled my head again.

**Ponyboy's POV**

Her eyes seemed to be glues closed. Her lips were a deep blue and her hair was filled with ice and snow, her clothes had been soaked through and her skin had turned to a shade of light blue. I watched in fear as all of the paramedics milled around Danielle, I flinched when one stabbed something into her arm. Her eyes seemed to be opening slightly and I loosened my grip on her hand slightly.

"Danielle? Danielle are you okay? Danny? Please stay awake!" She seemed to look over at me for a quick second before blacking out again a moment later. One of the paramedics shook me and I looked up,

"Here, could you please go talk to the police and meet us back at the hospital, we cant have you in here for the sake of her privacy," I nodded my head yes because I quickly understood what they had to do to her, she was being violated by people she didn't even know.

"Excuse me, young man, we need to talk to you," I looked over to the fuzz who were calling me over to talk to them.

I started walking over and joined my brothers as a cop began asking me questions,

"Okay, so was that horse hers? Or is it another person's horse?" I was shaking and nervous, I never really felt too comfortable talking to the fuzz,

"Yes sir, it was her horse," He looked at me sceptically and I reserved the urge to roll my eyes at him, I knew he was doubting me just because I was a greaser. The cops almost never believe us unless we can prove to them what we are saying is true.

"Do you have the ownership papers with you?" He looked at me with a sort of "gotcha" look, except the thing is, he didn't have me at all, the horse's owner quickly agreed to let me buy the horse and drove me the ownership papers which I shoved in my jacket pocket before returning to the stable, just in case a situation like this would occur.

"Yea, I've got em' right here," I pulled out the papers and held them out for the cop to examine, he seemed satisfied with what he saw,

"Well, I guess there aint' anything left for us to do here, alright boys, lets head back to the station." I watched the fuzz load back up into their cop cars and drive off, quickly after, I ended up in the ambulance, heading towards the hospital, clutching Danielle's hand the whole way there...

**(A.N. Sooooo? What do you guys think? Reiview PLEASE!)**


	14. Chapter 13

**(A.N. Sorry for the EXTREMLEY long update delay, as i said before, my parents are getting divorced and im going to be moving on the 4****th****, but you guys will be glad to know this story is finally finished and I'm working on the sequal!Please review if you want the sequal! )**

**DISCLAMER: I do not own the Outsiders or any characters but Danielle, Switch, Patrick, Drew, and Robyn!**

**Chapter 13 – Things Get Better, Eventually**

**Danielle's POV**

Time heals all wounds, Pony had told me that saying a million times, so many times while I was recovering that it was burned into my brain. It was true, my wounds were healed, scars may have been left behind but they were healed. I still cried sometimes about Dallas and Johnny, but I finally understood they were in a better place and I belonged here on earth, with Pony. I still remember the horrible events of the past years, thanks to the nightmares that come to revisit me every so often, but now, I have somebody lying there with me on the nights I wake up screaming to keep me sane and to love me with all of his heart,

"Are you alright Danielle?" Angela asked as she fiddled with my hair, making sure it was perfect and that there wasn't a single stray hair or a single bobby pin sticking out too far from where my bangs had been pulled back. She made sure the curls in my hair had plenty of hairspray and they wouldn't get frizzy,

"Just thinking," Angela laughed as she continued fiddling with my hair,

"Better be about Pony, if it isn't, especially today, I'm going to have to smack you!" I giggled a little,

"Don't you worry, it partially is, I'm just so nervous!" She looked at my eyes in the mirror and I looked back at hers,

"Damn well should be! Here, stand up Dannibear," I quickly did as I was told, lifting my dress slighty from the floor to keep myself from tripping on it. "Would you look at you! Pretty little thing! All grown up!" I smiled at her, Angela had already gone through this huge thing and had a little boy to prove it.

"I'm so scared, what if I trip, or I forget to say something, or if I..." Angela pressed her finger to my lips,

"Don't worry, it's all going to be perfect! I promise hun, now you better hurry or you'll miss the whole thing!" I smiled as she rushed out of the room before me, her short gray dress swaying as she walked out.

I checked myself over in the mirror and smiled, I quickly grabbed the bunch of flowers, 12 dusty pink roses and walked through the door. Darry was standing there in his tux waiting for me,

"You look beautiful," I smiled at him and took a deep breath,

"Are you ready doll?" I nodded my head yeas and reached up to make sure my veil was over my face,

"Extremely nervous, but I'm ready." Darry linked his arm into mine as we walked through the doorway, everything was just as I had imagined it would be, it was beautiful. I looked straight forward and my eyes were quickly met by another set and he smiled back at me. Steve and Two-Bit whistled towards me, Soda was grinning like a total freak and Ang was standing up there, she looked like she was about to cry. The next think I knew, Darry was handing me off and I was standing across from the man of my dreams, who would have ever thought it would be him. I was barley even listening to a thing, the only thing I could pay attention to was the heat radiating from his hand, until he turned to me and began to speak.

"I, Ponyboy Curtis, take you, Danielle Winston, to be my lawfully wedded wife, my constant friend, my faithful partner and my love from this day forward. In the presence of God, our family and friends, I offer you my solemn vow to be your faithful partner in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, and in joy as well as in sorrow. I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, to honor and respect you, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live." I was grinning like a freak and about to cry as I uttered the almost identical vow back to him,

"I, Danielle Winston, take you, Ponyboy Curtis, to be my lawfully wedded husband, my constant friend, my faithful partner and my love from this day forward. In the presence of God, our family and friends, I offer you my solemn vow to be your faithful partner in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, and in joy as well as in sorrow. I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, to honor and respect you, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live." We both quickly looked at the pastor who quickly uttered the long awaited words,

"You may now kiss the bride!" Pony gently lifted my veil and kissed me, sealing the whole deal. The whole church was filled with cheering and I turned around, throwing my bouquet. I turned back around and saw it had been Two-Bit's little sister, Jenna, who caught it. Me and Pony both looked over to Two-Bit who we all heard clear as day yell,

"Not on my watch!"

We both quickly ran outside to where the old orange truck was waiting for us with a just married banner taped to the back. I entered the truck smiling and waving, the day I had waited for for so long had finally came, and I shared it with everybody. Dallas had been there, I knew he was, Johnny too, and then everybody else, and the whole gang, it was overwhelming.

"Well, what to do now Mrs. Curtis?" Pony looked over at me as he turned the key in the ignition, turning on the truck,

"Drive!" I laughed at him and we sped off, my life may not be perfect, but it is just what it needs to be, and I'm spending it with just who I should be for the rest of my life...

**(A.N. Sooooo? What do you guys think? Reiview PLEASE!)**


End file.
